[Taxacom] Showing the importance of natural history collections and the networks they are building

[Mary Barkworth]

The other day I reviewed a paper that stated it drew information from lots of databases and networks but to find out which one had to go to the authors' web site and click on a pull-down list. That started me thinking of how to get more recognition for collections, databases, and networks.
Suggestion: Collections, databases, and networks that contributed significantly to development of any paper, poster, pamphlet, report etc. should be cited in the references section (the old "Literature cited" section). We should do this ourselves, ask other authors to do so when reviewing papers, and promote the idea at meetings we go to in which people make use of collections data - whether of environmental consultants, politicians, or ecologists. Having collections and networks (and floras consulted too) listed in the reference section would mean that publishers will start marking them up and search engines may find them, all of which would, I suspect, make it easier to show how fundamental collections and networks are to today's research.  Below I have some suggested formats for networks that I use.
1.       SEINet Network. 2014+. Provider of records from over 60 US herbaria. Accessed via http://ngpherbaria.org<http://ngpherbaria.org/>, 23 April 2014.
2.       NGPHerbaria.org. 2014+. Portal to records from over 60 US herbaria. Accessed via http://ngpherbaria.org<http://ngpherbaria.org/>, 23 April 2014.
3.       Intermountainbiota.org. 2014+. For records to herbaria of Utah State University's campuses. Accessed via http<http://ngpherbaria.org/>://intermountainbiota.org<http://ngpherbaria.org/>, 23 April 2014.
4.       BHSC. 2014+. Records from the herbarium of Black Hills State University. Accessed via http://swbiodiversity.org/, 23 April 2014
5.       Intermountain Herbarium. 2014+. Records from the herbarium of Utah State University, Logan Campus. Accessed via https://www.idigbio.org/ 23 April 2014
Logically, one could also ask to see herbaria from which one borrowed specimens listed in the References cited rather than (or in addition to) acknowledgments.
I am a plant person. I would think that the same approach would serve other natural history collections and networks but perhaps not.
Comments welcome.
Mary