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<br />Results (Findings)
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<br />Selection of a Computer Collection-Catalog and Management Program
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<br />Before and during the first year of this project, I consulted with the curator and
<br />collections manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Field Station regarding their
<br />cataloging system and advice on computer cataloging programs. However, their fish
<br />collections, including those from the UCRB, were still being cataloged by hand. After
<br />reviewing alternatives, we adopted the MUSE program and hoped that the Field Station
<br />might do likewise to facilitate integration of our respective catalogs. They have since, as
<br />the NBS Western Biological Surveys Collections, entered their fish catalog data in a Reflex
<br />database similar to that used for other collection taxa. Eventually their collection will be
<br />physically integrated and computer-cataloged with MSB collections, although they will
<br />remain federal government property (M. A. Bogan, NBS, personal communication). MSB
<br />developed their own computer catalog and collection management system based on the
<br />Paradox relational database program.
<br />MUSE is not just a relational cataloging database, but a network-compatible,
<br />collection-management system, including integrated provisions for recording and tracking
<br />loans, exchanges, and deaccessions (Humphries 1994). With National Science Foundation
<br />support, MUSE was originally developed for ichthyological collections by J. Humphries
<br />(Cornell University) on the Btrieve database engine, but it has since been adapted for a
<br />wide range of museum collections from vertebrates in general to mammals, birds, herps,
<br />invertebrates, and even a botanical collection (Appendix I). MUSE is licensed for over 80
<br />museum and research collections in North America, South America, and overseas, including
<br />many of the more widely recognized fish and herpetological collections. Although MUSE
<br />is customized to the special needs of each individual collection, all versions are based on a
<br />standardized database model. This allows collection catalogs that have been linked to a
<br />MUSEServer to be searched individually or simultaneously from any computer connected to
<br />the Internet (see On-line Searches below).
<br />MUSE catalog data are maintained in two related (linked) data files, "primary 'dat"
<br />and "locality.dat". The "primary" records contains specimen or taxon-lot data such as taxon
<br />identity (usually species), number of specimens, and size, whereas the "locality" records
<br />contains information on where, when, how, and by whom the specimens were collected
<br />(Figure 1). Each primary record is assigned a unique, sequential, integer-only "catalog
<br />number" and each locality record a unique "field number" with a maximum of 15 alpha-
<br />numeric characters. The first accessioned collection was assigned catalog number "1." All
<br />primary records for specimens or lots from the same collection are related or linked to the
<br />same locality record by the "field number." For LFL locality records, the "field number"
<br />consists of a source-agency abbreviation (e.g, CDOW, UDWR, FWS/GJ, FWSN), year and
<br />collection type symbol (e.g, 86L for 1986 larval fish), and unique, often sequential alpha-
<br />numeric collection number (e.g., 025 or GRI7) either provided by the collector or assigned
<br />by LFL. Changes or corrections in the identity of specimens in primary records are tracked
<br />in an associated taxonomic history file. Each primary record is also linked by taxon name
<br />to taxonomic dictionaries that ensure properly spelled entries and facilitate queries of the
<br />catalog at higher taxonomic levels (e.g., family and order via "CLIO," a MUSE utility).
<br />When appropriate, primary records are also linked to loan invoices so the current status of
<br />loaned material is known at all times.
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