CALDWELL, Idaho — The Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History at the College of Idaho is working to digitize millions of specimens:
- Students, staff, and volunteers are working together to catalog millions of specimens at the museum.
- The data associated with the specimens will be available to the public once it has been digitally cataloged.
- The museum received a half-million-dollar grant from the National Science Foundation to fund this project.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
With changing technology comes a lot of digital cataloging at the College of Idaho.
It's home of the Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History where students and volunteers are working to digitize millions of specimens.
"So we're going to take all the data that's associated with specimens," said Dr. Ashley Ferguson, the project manager at the museum. "And put them into a database system that will be available to the public and to scientists around the whole world."
The project is possible thanks to a half-million dollar grant received last year from the National Science Foundation.
"The grant is for three years so we are hoping to be able to do about three million objects in that amount of time," said Ferguson.
C of I senior Yaxeny Lopez is working with the museum on the project.
"Many of this will be gone at some point," said Lopez. "If you have a database then you can access it from multiple places around the world."
The process of cataloging not only allows the museum to stay organized but can help with future studies.
"Students can do research with it. Educators can use it. We have a record," said Lopez. "It's opening a window to the past and saving what we have in here."
"If you're interested in natural history come down and come visit us," said Ferguson.