The summary below lists collections available from each data provider, and the number of records per resource.
Not all collections listed are available or searchable at all times.
Click on the name of the data provider to jump to their website (external links).
There is a lag between display with GBIF and NBII.
If a data provider service (at the institution) has been "stopped" or deactivated, the records will not be searchable through NBII's portal. NBII's DiGIR search is a decentralized search, querying each data provider as the search is requested. Searching can still be done through GBIF's portal, since all records have been indexed for faster retrieval.
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is a coordinated international scientific effort to enable users throughout the world to discover and put to use vast quantities of global biodiversity data, thereby advancing scientific research in many disciplines, promoting technological and sustainable development, facilitating the equitable sharing of the benefits of biodiversity, and enhancing the quality of life of members of society.
GBIF News
A MESSAGE FROM THE GBIF SECRETARIAT
The GBIF Secretariat is pleased to announce a new training opportunity for GBIF Participants: an IPT Helpdesk Experts Workshop on the GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT). This event will be held in Copenhagen (Denmark) the 14-16 September 2009.
The GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) is a software platform developed by the GBIF Secretariat to facilitate efficient publishing of three kinds of biodiversity data onto the internet using the GBIF Network: [1] taxon primary occurrence data (information on the distribution of species), [2] taxonomic names and checklists and [3] dataset metadata (descriptions of datasets, its contents, contact information, etc). The IPT improves on the existing tools and services in terms of ease of use, data quality assessment, new data interfaces and increased visibility for the resources published, among other advantages.
This Workshop is a contribution to the creation of a distributed helpdesk system, as stated in the GBIF Work Programme 2009-2010 [PDF document]. The participants in the Workshop will be required to take part in discussions in the IPT mailing list and provide assistance in their own regions and languages by disseminating the knowledge acquired through remote communications, presentations, courses and workshops. Explicit institutional support in regards of time allocation for these support tasks will be a necessity for candidates.
The candidates are expected to have the technical background needed to fully benefit from the training (please refer to the draft programme for more details).
The workshop will be held in English, although support from Spanish and French speakers will be available.
The selected participants will be reimbursed for travel, accommodation and per diem expenses related to their participation on this training event, according to the GBIF Travel Guidelines.
GBIF Node Managers (or Heads of GBIF Delegations if no Node Manager has been appointed) are kindly requested to nominate one suitable candidate at their earliest convenience and no later than Thursday the 13th August 2009. The nomination must be sent by email to training@gbif.org or by fax to (+45) 35321480 and must include the pre-inscription form, the CV of the candidate and other relevant information (i.e. support letter from his/her institution).
Due to space constraints, a selection process will be held shortly after this date, where the technical capacity of the candidates and their suitability as helpdesk experts will be the main evaluation points.
We look forward to receiving your nominations.
GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit
The United States National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) program, led by the U.S Geological Survey, in collaboration with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), has developed and is supporting the Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) to facilitate access, discovery, and use of collections and observational data. This site is currently undergoing evaluation and any feedback on its usefulness, impacts, and value should be provided via the feedback form. We encourage your comments and questions.
The new GBIF Data Portal is an Internet gateway to more than 130 million data records provided by 200+ institutions scattered over 30+ countries around the world. The GBIF Data Portal is a single point-of-entry to these millions of data records (with more to come).
Calling all collection managers, curators and administrators!
GBIF has formed a task group with the title, 'Global Strategy and Action Plan for Digitisation and Mobilisation of Natural History Collections Data.' This Task Group, in collaboration with the Collections Web Research Coordination Network and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, is pleased to announce a survey, "Natural History Specimen Digitisation: Challenges and Concerns." The purpose of this survey is to provide practical information to administrators, curators, and managers at all levels about the challenges presented by digitisation, and the ways in which these have been addressed in diverse collections. GBIF will make the findings of the survey public.
Recognising the abundance of natural history specimens (several billion globally) and the importance of associated information, digitisation must be prioritised to have the maximum impact in the shortest amount of time and at a reasonable cost. The Task Group is working to investigate and develop a plan of action for digitisation at multiple levels, from individual collections to regional, national, and global coordination.
The survey is open through June 20, 2009, and requires approximately 35 minutes to complete.
The NBII Program is administered by the Biological Informatics Office of the U.S. Geological Survey
