We are pleased to provide this content that has been developed by staff of the A.C. Moore Herbarium and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Trust Botany and Plant Conservation Group. Feedback and suggestions will be used to improve the quality of this content.

Data Standards

South Carolina Herbaria Data Entry Standards

Basic Data Entry How-to Workshop

• The following resources include identical information offered in three different formats. For convenience, choose the format that best suits your needs or learning style. Regardless of the format, each file presents detailed guidance on how to complete basic data entry (only). At USCH, records are processed in stages. The first stage involves basic data entry. Additional information, such as georeferenced coordinate data, is added in subsequent stages.

  • Printer-friendly PDF
  • Fully indexed PDF
  • 33 minute video presentation

  This resource was written and compiled by Csilla Czakó (SCDNR NHT Botany and Plant Conservation Program) and Avery Browning (Assitant Curator A.C. Moore Herbarium at the University of South Carolina) along with contributions from A.C. Moore Herbarium at the University of South Carolina Staff and Affiliates including but not limited to former Collections Manager Charlie Harmon, Curator Dr. Herrick Brown, Research Affiliate Maura C. Flannery, Resident Xylologist Dr. Mihaly Czakó, Curator Emeritus Dr. John B. Nelson, State Botanist and Team Lead of the SCDNR NHT Botany and Plant Conservation Program Keith Bradley. Carol Ann McCormick, the wonderful Curatrix of UNC Herbarium provided much needed insight on Collector Name formatting. Thank you to all the All-SC Herbaria Meeting participants (SC, NC, and GA herbarium curators and staff) who contributed their thoughts and wealth of experience. Thank you to Katie Pearson and the Symbiota Team for patiently answering all our questions. All screenshots and images were taken from the Symbiota SERNEC portal. Symbiota Data Fields (accessed via Symbiota Docs) and The Darwin Core Quick Reference Guide were frequently used in the making of this document.

  Given the number of people who worked so hard to bring this project together, when using any or all contents of these documents, please reference it as "South Carolina Herbaria Data Entry Standards".

Georeferencing Resources

• Atlas of Historical County Boundaries of South Carolina from The Newberry Library - Dr. William M. Scholl Center for American History and Culture. Since its establishment as a British colony, South Carolina's county boundaries have changed many times. This resource offers an interactive map that illustrates these changes. Additionally, shapefiles can be downloaded for use in GIS applications. We have found this resource to be particularly helpful for georeferencing older specimens and assigning correct, modern county equivalents to 19^th-century geopolitical subunits (e.g. Parish, District, etc.).

People (Collectors, Determiners, Observers)

• Google Spreadsheet of Collector Names and Aliases initiated by Csilla Czako. South Carolina has a long history of natural history exploration that has been documented by many individuals over time. We hope to continue to build this list through collaboration with community partners.

• Bionomia is a tool developed by David P. Shorthouse that facilitates attribution of collection objects (specimens) to people who collected or identified them. While the primary objective of Bionomia is to give credit where credit is due, the interface also provides opportunities for biographical research. Since Bionomia integrates seemlessly with other resources like ORCiD, WIKIDATA, and GBIF, there are numerous opportunities to resolve aliases associated with collections personnel.

Meetings and Discussions

• April 18, 2024 - Video recording of meeting among personnel from herbaria in South Carolina. Includes discussion of suggested standard data formats for Darwin Core data fields and plans for upcoming SC Herbaria Consortium Meeting.

• September 20, 2023 - Presentation given at BioDigiCon 2023 discussing methods used to develop South Carolina Herbaria Data Standards.

• August 02, 2023 - Video recording of meeting among personnel from herbaria in South Carolina and neighboring states. Includes discussion of suggested standard data formats for Darwin Core data fields.

• August 02, 2023 - Indexed slides of meeting among personnel from herbaria in South Carolina and neighboring states. Includes suggested standard data formats for Darwin Core data fields.