ABSTRACT
This study summarizes the process of digitizing about 300,000 specimens of the herbarium RB, presenting the main results in terms of time and cost per computerized specimen (typed, validated and/or scanned), values that allowed to point the best management model among the four experienced in elapsing of the studied period (August 29, 2005 to July 12, 2007). The project was taken as an example of feasibility for similar initiatives, and their suitable results as reference values. As such, they were compared to estimates of cost and time used in the document "Guidelines and strategies for the modernization of brazilian botanical collections with a focus on the training of taxonomists and consolidation of integrated systems of information on biodiversity" (Peixoto et al. 2006Peixoto, A. L.; Barbosa, M. R. V.; Menezes, M. & Maia, L. C. 2006. Diretrizes e estratégias para a modernização de coleções botânicas brasileiras tendo como foco a formação de taxonomistas e a consolidação de sistemas integrados de informação sobre biodiversidade. Disponível em http://www.cria.org.br/cgee/documentos/botanica.doc. Acessado em 14 de março de 2009.
http://www.cria.org.br/cgee/documentos/b...
) and the main conclusions were that the estimated cost per specimen typed is in agreement with this work, but the time was overestimated.
Key words:
computerization of herbaria; botanical collections; biodiversity informatics; environmental information management