Excerpt from Joseph R. Slevin's journal documenting the 1905-1906 expedition to the Galapagos Islands, wherein he first hears of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The California Academy of Sciences Library is in the midst of a 3 year IMLS National Leadership Grant titled "Connecting Content: A Collaboration to Link Field Notes to Specimens and Published Literature." Connecting Content is an effort involving the California Academy of Sciences, Missouri Botanical Garden, Harvard University Botany Libraries, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology Library, the New York Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. The project involves the digitization of field notebooks and natural history collections and the generation of metadata for these items. Five of the six institutions are conducting pilot projects of varying scope and size. We are now working on developing the means to link these collections to one another and to published material in the Biodiversity Heritage Library. The results of these projects will be made available for harvesting, reuse, and repurposing without cost, and third-party web applications developed to best serve diverse user communities. The final deliverables will include an enhanced community Smithsonian Field Book Registry, as well as workflow and procedures so that other institutions may contribute to this project.
This project is supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), creating strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development.
