National Research Collections Australia (NRCA)

Overview

 

The National Research Collections Australia scientific subdomain contains images from the CSIRO’s major specimen collections. These collections are:

• Australian National Herbarium (ANH)
• Australian National Fish Collection (ANFC)
• Australian National Wildlife Collection (ANWC)
• Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC)

 

The initial release of images in this subdomain provides access to images from the ANH. Over time, images from the other major collections will be made available.

The majority of images in the sub-domain are available to all DAP users, however, there are a small number that are restricted due to the inclusion of sensitive location information in the image. These restricted images can be requested for research purposes but require the user and their associated organisation to enter into an agreement with CSIRO regarding their use.

Search

The NRCA subdomain is split into information from each National Research Collection. Each National Research Collection will need to be searched independently.

 

Taxonomy (default option)

There are currently 10 000+ Herbarium images available to search. The default method for searching images is to use the scientific name – the Taxonomy option.

This allows you to enter the canonical scientific name (noting that it is not necessary to enter the authorship details for the scientific name).

 

You can search on the full name or on part of the name. Any words entered will be combined using the AND operator (i.e. results will include all terms entered).

It is also possible to filter within search results or to filter the whole dataset by family, genus or species. If unsure of the species, it can be useful to search by genus name and then filter using species name, as the species names for all images in that genus will be listed in the filter. Filter by selecting or deselecting the boxes under the “Species” heading in the search results.

 

Specimen Identifier (Specimen ID)

In addition, if you are looking for a specific specimen and you know the Specimen Identifier (Specimen ID), you can search using the identifier. Depending on the specimen collection this identifier may be known as the Catalog number, the Accession number or the Database number. It is a unique identifier within that specimen collection for the specimen.

In the case of the ANH images, the Specimen ID can be entered as a full catalogue number, or as just the accession number for the specimen.

These search results can also be filtered by scientific name.

Specimen IDs can be found online at the Atlas of Living Australia or on the Australian National Herbarium Specimen Information Register (ANHSIR).

ANH Specific fields for search

Field Number

Standard Herbarium practice includes sharing parts of specimens with Herbaria in other institutions prior to a database record being created. These shared specimen parts often have a shared field number, so that researchers in various organisations can collect information on the different parts of the specimen group. The Field Number search option allows a user to search via this identifier.

Collector

Sometimes a collector is well known as specialising in a specific taxonomical area or geographic area. The ANH search allows a user to search by collector name.

Please note: this search is limited to the collector name as entered in the specimen database. For example, if you are looking specifically for the any images of specimens collected by Joseph Banks you will need to enter Banks, J.

However, this will provide results for Banks, J. (active in the 1770s) and Banks, J. C. G. (active in the 1950-60s). One way to further narrow these results would be to download the dataset and sort the metadata spreadsheet provided with the images by collector name. Be aware that this may result in downloading a large dataset.

Download

To download a set of specimen images, you must search for them and Select the images you want in the search results. Select images by clicking the checkbox next to their title in the search results. They will will then appear in the “Selected” tab.

You can do multiple searches and select various images from each search to add to your Selected items. However, you can’t select both open and restricted images at the same time, as different access controls are in place for the different access types.

 

Clicking on the Selected tab allows you to see your selection and Download the images.

 

Clicking on the Download option will open a form asking you to agree to the licensing terms for access to images. It will also ask you to identify your organisation, and indicate the purpose for which you plan to use the images. This allows CSIRO to report to funding bodies and the government on the benefit accrued by making these images available. Finally, you will be asked whether you want the lower resolution version of these images or the high-resolution version and will also allow you to choose from the available file formats. Low resolution images are commonly between 1-5 MB and are useful for on screen viewing, high resolution images can be as large as 200MB and provide fine detail for scientific research.

Images are provided as .zip files and have an accompanying metadata .csv file and licensing information.

Restricted records

CSIRO makes both open access and restricted specimen images available. However, to access restricted images, you must request them and you and your organisation must enter into an agreement about how you can use, store and manage the images. CSIRO has an obligation to restrict access to sensitive location information available in some images; thus any other people wanting access to these images must agree to abide by the same restrictions.

Restricted image requests

By default, Open records are displayed in search results, but the user can choose to see a listing of the available restricted records. These will not be shown as thumbnail images and must be requested. There is an Open/Restricted toggle that allows a user to change their view and display and select restricted images in order to request them.

 

 

Clicking on the “Request Access” button will open a form allowing you to enter contact details, identify your organisation, and provide a brief reason for why you require access to the images. Submitting this form will create a list of the selected images and generate a request email to be actioned by NRCA staff. NRCA staff will respond to your request as soon as possible, usually within 5 working days of the request.

Create DOI for a selected set of images

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) can be created for one or many images from search results. The DOI is used in research and other documentation as a reference to a specific set of data or to a digital object. It ensures the referenced data is presented exactly as it was when the DOI was created, including referring to the same version of each of the digital files in a dataset. See this article for further information on what is a DOI and why to use them.

To create a DOI, click on the “Create DOI” button

 

You will need to have a login to DAP to create a DOI. Logins are available via the following options:

• Australian Access Federation (AAF)
• CSIRO 
• Australian Telescope National Facility user application (OPAL)
• CSIRO Partners

 

Clicking on the Create DOI option will ask you to login (if you aren’t already) and check that you are sure that you want to create a DOI.

Once the DOI is created, a page will automatically open showing the selected images, a copyable DOI reference link and a citation statement that can be used to cite the data.

DOIs you have previously created can be accessed using the My DOIs button below the DOI information on the DOI page, or by going to your profile information drop down and selecting My DOIs. Note: this drop down is only available if you are logged in.