Manually creating records from a researcher's lab collection

Many researchers study anatomy of animals or objects that are not part of a formal museum collection.  These objects often end up being managed as a lab collection in some sense or are not managed after the research on them is completed (ie they may be destroyed by the research process or discarded after the research is completed).

Ways that a researcher can end up in this situation include:

1. They acquire specimens from the wild
2. They acquire specimens from a facility that sells or donates specimens for research but does not retain or provide public access to data on sold objects
3. They rear, cultivate or otherwise generate new specimens/objects under experimental conditions

We encourage researchers to retain physical samples whenever possible as vouchers for scans they may archive on MorphoSource. However, we also understand this is not always possible.

We also encourage researchers to find museum partners that may be interested in hosting their acquisitions. However, we also understand this is not always possible.

In most cases then, whether the specimen is preserved or not, these specimens must be associated with a "Laboratory" organization in MorphoSource.

The PI or their lab manager must do the following to begin depositing specimens from their laboratory organization on MorphoSource

1. The PI or lab manager must ensure that a stable naming/cataloging system is in place for specimens that were scanned.  In other words, each specimen in the lab collection should have a unique catalog number that distinguishes it from all other past present and potential future research specimens acquired/generated by the lab. To improve the transparency and reproducibility of the PIs research, these catalog numbers should be listed in association with corresponding morphosource datasets in published papers using the scans.
2. If no lab organization record has been created in MorphoSource, you must submit a request that it be created by emailing the morphosource team and providing as much of the following information as possible:

Parent Institution name: Current institution of Principal Investigator

Organization Name/Title: "Laboratory of (Principal Investigator First name) (Principal Investigator Last name)"

Institution Code(s): L-XX (replace XX with Principal Investigator's initials) - see NOTE below.

Collection Code(s): *usually not applicable for lab collection.  Though a PI with an extensive collection from different places or of different types could use this.

Website: PI's research website or other appropriate website

Address: Address of PIs current lab.

Contact Name and email: Contact information of the PI or current lab manager

NOTE: The institution code is designed to avoid changes to the "Darwin Core" triplet of the specimen record should the PI change institutions

PRO TIP 1: Once you have deposited media from a lab collection into morphosource, it is a good idea for the PI or their lab manager to keep a database with catalog number, other identifying metadata and morphosource identifiers for each specimen.  Its not a bad idea to keep a paper copy of this information with the physical specimen when retained in the lab. If the lab keeps this information in close association with their specimens, this not only increases the likelihood that eventually the collection will be preserved (because people will see that it has scientific value) or donated to a museum, it helps ensure that the provenance and identifier information can be updated in the future if need be.

PRO TIP 2: As a formal collection organization on MorphoSource, PIs can make a request to the morphosource administrators that they be granted an Organziational Management Team, which can be helpful if they are planning to contribute many scans over a long period of time.

The mechanics of manually creating a research lab specimen record is identical to manually creating almost any specimen record once the PI has decided on their cataloging system and the lab organization is in place. This video (Also available on the root page) demonstrates the process of manually creating a specimen record in its second half after a portion demonstrating "importing" of a record.