Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.



Table of Contents

...

Information elementdc.subject
RequiredYes
RepeatableYes
Guidance

Provide three to five subject headings for each specimen. Source terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH).

  1. All specimens should be assigned the subject headings “Herbaria” and “Plants--Canada, Eastern.”
  2. The third subject heading should refer to the specific plant, as closely as possible. 
    1. To find this subject heading, start by searching the genus (dwc.genus) in LCSH.
      1. For example, for a specimen with the scientific name Asclepias incarnata L. var. pulchra (Erh.) Pers., search Asclepias.
      2. Asclepias is a variant name of the subject Milkweeds, so use Milkweeds as the subject heading.
      3. Narrower terms of Milkweeds include Bloodflower, Common milkweed, Curtiss’ milkweed, and Wheel milkweed, but the specific type of milkweed here, Asclepias incarnata (Swamp milkweed), is not a subject term in LCSH.
    2. For some specimens, this level of specificity is possible, e.g., for Acer saccharum Marsh, use Sugar maple (variant term Acer saccharum).
    3. For other specimens, it is necessary to resort to the plant family name (dwc.family), because the genus is not a subject term in LCSH.
      1. For example, for Lapsana communis L. (Nippleworts), the genus Lapsana is not an LCSH term, but its family name, Compositae, is, so use Compositae as the third subject term.

Use a new dc.subject field for each subject heading.

Examples

Herbaria

Plants–Canada, Eastern

Botanical specimens

Fungi

Lichen

...

Information elementdc.type
RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
GuidanceProvide the term "Image.PhysicalObject"
ExamplesImagePhysicalObject

Darwin Core terms

dwc.basisOfRecord

...

Information elementdwc.collectionID
Identifierhttp://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/collectionID
DefinitionAn identifier for the collection or dataset from which the record was derived.
CommentsFor physical specimens, the recommended best practice is to use an identifier from a collections registry such as the Global Registry of Biodiversity Repositories (http://grbio.org/).
RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
Dalhousie guidanceUse DalSpace handle for herbarium collection: http://hdl.handle.net/10222/74067.
Dalhousie examples:

http://hdl.handle.net/10222/74067 (used for Dalhousie University Department of Biology Herbarium)

...

Information elementdwc.country
RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
GuidanceRecord the name of the country or major administrative unit in which the Location occurs.
Examples

Canada

United States of America

...

Information elementdwc.countryCode
RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
Guidance

Record the ISO 3166-1:2013 alpha-3 country code that represents the country or major administrative unit in which the Location occurs.

Examples

CAN (three-digit code for Canada)

USA (three-digit code for United States of America)

...

Information elementdwc.eventDate
Required

Yes

RepeatableYes
Guidance

Record the latest ordinal day of the year on which the Event occurred (1 for January 1; 365 for December 31, except in a leap year, in which case it is 366).

The Excel template uses a DATE formula to generate the ordinal day of the year.

=B4-DATE(YEAR(B4),1,0)

Examples

1943

1966-05

1985-09-22

...

Information elementdwc.eventDate
Required

Yes

RepeatableYes
Guidance

Record the date-time during which the specimen was collected or observed. Recommended best practice is to use an encoding scheme, such as ISO 8601-1:2019 and ISO 8601-2:2019. See Library of Congress Extended Date-Time Format for guidance and examples.

Specific guidance for DalSpace includes:

  • Use the "extended format" specified in ISO 8601: hyphen between calendar components and colon between clock components (e.g., 2005-09-24T10:00:00).

  • Use Level 0 complete representation whenever possible (e.g., 1934-05-18)

  • Use Level 0 reduced precision for year and month (e.g., 1934-05 not 1934-05-XX). 

  • Use Level 0 reduced precision for year (e.g., 1934 not 1934-XX-XX).

  • Use Level 1 rules for qualifying uncertain or approximate dates. Use the character '?' to qualify an uncertain date and the '~' character to qualify an approximate date. Do not use the '%' character to qualify an uncertain and approximate date.

  • Use the character 'X' in place of rightmost digits when recording a year-only expression (e.g., 193X not 193X-XX-XX).

  • Use the character 'X', anywhere in the component only when the specimen has a precise month and day but the year is unspecified (e.g., 19XX-05-08). Do not provide dwc.day or dwc.startDayOfYear when the year is unspecified.

    • Alternate approach is to record an unspecified year (e.g., 19XX) and provide the month and day in an eventRemarks note (e.g., Specimen collected on May 8, sometime within the 20th century).

  • Use the character '/' to denote intervals.

  • Only record uncertain intervals if the uncertain or approximate dates fall within a twenty year range.
Examples

1943

1966-05

1985-09-22

19XX-05-08

...

Information elementdwc.fieldNotes
RequiredNo
RepeatableNo
Guidance

If field notes are known to exist in the Dalhousie University Archives or another repository, record a reference to the notes. Include a unique identifier or call number if applicable. 

If the specimen was collected by Hugh Bell (see dwc.recordedBy field), check the diaries (1932-1934, 1943-1956) and catalogue (1950) in the Hugh Bell fonds (MS-2-798) for references to the specimen, using the date entered in dwc.eventDate. If the specimen is mentioned by name (either scientific or vernacular), reference the diary, date, and page number, and quote the relevant section in dwc.fieldNotes. Sometimes the reference will be part of a prose entry and sometimes the specimen will be included in a list. Specimens collected in 1950 are often included in both his diary for 1949-1950 and in the catalogue for 1950; reference both sources. If the specimen was collected by Bell but no reference to it is made in his diaries or catalogue, do not enter anything in the field notes.

Examples

[Specimen mentioned in prose]: See Hugh Bell's notebook from plant collecting trips in and around Halifax, Nova Scotia (1945-1946), MS-2-798, SF Box 87, Folder 4, Hugh Phillip Bell fonds, Dalhousie University Archives. This specimen is mentioned in his entry for Thursday, September 12, 1946 (pp. 51-52): "Shirley found two sand flowers of which we made collections."

[Specimen included in a list]: See Hugh Bell's notebook from plant collecting trips in and around Halifax, Nova Scotia (1947-1948), MS-2-798, SF Box 87, Folder 5, Hugh Phillip Bell fonds, Dalhousie University Archives. Bell lists the Suaeda maritima in his entry for August 18, 1947 (pp. 31-33).

[Specimen collected in 1950]: See Hugh Bell's notebook from plant collecting trips in and around Halifax, Nova Scotia (1949-1951), MS-2-798, SF Box 87, Folder 6, Hugh Phillip Bell fonds, Dalhousie University Archives. His entry for July 14, 1950 (pp. 73-76) lists the Apocynum androsaemifolium sample, collected from "Erskine's collecting spots", shown to Bell, Anne Graham, and Ann Marshall by Erskine on June 5, 1950. The specimen is also listed on p. 47 of Bell's 1950 catalogue (see MS-2-798, SF Box 87, Folder 9, Hugh Phillip Bell fonds, Dalhousie University Archives). This entry specifies that the specimen was collected from a weed in an orchard in New Canaan, King's County.

...

Information element

dwc.georeferenceProtocol

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/georeferenceProtocol

Required

Yes

RepeatableYes
Guidance

If the specimen is georeferenced using a standardized geographic place access point, provide a reference to the Dalhousie Libraries' documentation on creating geographic place access points. Use the APA Style Guide, 6th Edition. 

Examples

Dalhousie Libraries. (2019).University Archives procedure manual, Procedures for creating geographic place access points. Retrieved from Procedures for creating Create a geographic place access pointspoint.

dwc.georeferenceSources

...

Information elementdwc.georeferenceSources
Required

Yes

RepeatableYes
Guidance

Provide references to maps, gazetteers, or other resources used to georeference the locality, described specifically enough to allow anyone in the future to use the same resources. Use APA Style Guide (6th ed) to format references. If multiple sources were used, provide references to each sources.

When preparing CSV data for bulk import, the recommended best practice is to separate the values into multiple columns (e.g., dwc.georeferenceSources_1, dwc.georeferenceSources_2).

Examples

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). GeoNames WMS Viewer. Available from http://geonames.nga.mil/namesviewer/default.asp.

Natural Resources Canada. (n.d.). Canadian Geographic Names Database. Available from http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/search?lang=en.

U.S. Geological Survey. (n.d.). Earth Explorer. Available from https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/.

...

Information element

dwc.identificationRemarks

Identifierhttp://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/identificationRemarks
DefinitionComments or notes about the identification.
Comments
RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
Dalhousie guidanceProvide information about efforts to verify the classification during accessioning and cataloguing. Include the name(s) of person(s) responsible for verifying the classification, date the classification was verified, and references to resources used.

If verification results in a new identification, record this information in dwc.identifiedBy, dwc.dateIdentified, and dwc.IdentificationReferences.
Examples

Classification verified by Sophie Tattrie on May 14, 2018. Verification based on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) and the Plant List.

...

Information elementdwc.institutionCode
RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
GuidanceRecord the unique code assigned by the Index Herbarorium
Examples

DAL (used for Dalhousie University Biology Department Herbarium)

NSAC (used for A.E. Roland Herbarium in the Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture)

dwc.institutionID

...

Information elementdwc.institutionID
Identifierhttp://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/institutionID
DefinitionAn identifier for the institution having custody of the object(s) or information referred to in the record.
CommentsFor physical specimens, the recommended best practice is to use an identifier from a collections registry such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (https://www.gbif.org/).
RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
Dalhousie guidance

Record the Global Registry of Scientific Collections (GrSciColl) identifier maintained by GBIF. Official Darwin Core guidelines still reference the GrBio database, but this resource is deprecated. GBIF now maintains GrSciColl.

Dalhousie example

http://grscicoll.org/institution/dalhousie-university

...

Information elementdwc.locality
RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
Guidance

Record a standardized form of place information provided in dwc.verbatimLocality. If the verbatim locality references a town, village, or city, search for this location in the places taxonomy in the Archives Catalogue. For instance, if the verbatim locality is “Skerry's Brook, Waverley, Halifax Co., N.S.”, search the places taxonomy for “Waverley”. If the locality is already included in the places taxonomy, transcribe the standardized name of the location (i.e., Waverley (N.S.)) into the dwc.locality field. Copy the latitude and longitude (written as latitude, longitude in AtoM) into the dwc.decimalLatitude and dwc.decimalLongitude fields.

If the verbatim locality does not reference a town, village, or city, use the smallest geographic unit (e.g., river, lake, or county). For example, for “Eden Lake, Pictou Co., N.S.” use Eden Lake (N.S.).

If a standardized form of place is not already included in the places taxonomy, find the location in one of the following geographic names databases and add the location to the places taxonomy:

Add a new location to the places taxonomy. See instructions in the University Archives Procedure Manual.

Examples

Aberdeen (Scotland)

Dartmouth (N.S.)

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

...

Information element

dwc.nomenclaturalCode

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/nomenclaturalCode

RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
Guidance

Record the nomenclatural code (or codes in the case of an ambiregnal name) under which the scientificName is constructed. Default value is "ICN." Seek further guidance from Project Manager if the specimen appears to be ambiregnal or if the organism appears to have been traditionally treated as algae, fungi, or plants.

Examples

ICN

dwc.occurenceID

...

Information element

dwc.occurenceID

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/occurrenceID

RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
Guidance

Record the persistent, globally unique handle generated by DalSpace and stored in the dc.identifier.uri field.

Note: Staff in the Libraries' Academic Technology Services unit copy each handle into the dwc.occurrenceID field after bulk importing the specimens into DalSpace.

Exampleshttp://hdl.handle.net/10222/74068

...

Information elementdwc.stateProvince
RequiredYes
RepeatableNo
Guidance

Record the name of the next smaller administrative region than country (e.g., province, territory, state, canton, department, region, etc.) in which the Location occurs.

Examples

Maryland

Nova Scotia

Nunavut

...