Boundless Use of Indiana University's Biological Research Collections Possible in Partnership with IU Libraries

Abstract

In 2013, the Indiana University Libraries (IUL) embarked upon a rich partnership with the IU Center for Biological Research Collections (CBRC) to provide researchers and lay citizen scientists access to a curated, digital collection of 2D and 3D specimens, as well as critical scholarly data from researchers across the biological sciences at IU. We have implemented a Fedora 4 repository with Sufia 7 built on as a Hydra head to provide the CBRC with an extensible digital repository and well-curated digital archive. Success in this pilot program would facilitate support for the IU Libraries to undergo a major migration of existing digital collections – a migration that would boost digital collections onto the semantic web. Along the way, IUL and CBRC have realized each other’s strengths and eagerly learn new protocols and methods for curating and preserving these institution-specific unique collections. Fundamentally, the desired outcome is to make the items in the CBRC abundantly available with the anticipation that their use will generate new discoveries while curating and preserving them for enhancement and future use. Furthermore, it is in this spirit of collaboration and a commitment to open technologies that we are aiming to extend these services more broadly to the entire IU community for digital scholarship and research. IUL regularly participates in community-based open source repository infrastructure engineering and global preservation networks. IUL’s work with the CBRC is a natural extension of these commitments which benefit the library and informatics fields, both within IU and beyond.