The Linnean Collections User Documentation

The Linnean Collections On-Line Help

1 Introduction

Welcome to The Linnean Collections On-line.

It is the Linnean Society’s aim to make available its primary research material in digital formats to support taxonomic and conservation efforts worldwide as well as providing public pleasure and enjoyment.

These pages are intended to provide an outline of the system and how to make best use of the features.

1a Savage Number

The herbarium specimens have been assigned a reference called the Savage Number. This number is a combination of the Genus number as written on the herbarium sheet, the sheet number, and the specimen number (where there is more than one specimen attached to the same sheet). These numbers are those used in A catalogue of the Linnaean Herbarium compiled and annotated by Spencer Savage, 225 pp., illustr., London, Linnean Society of London, 1945.

2 Browsing

You can browse the collections by selecting an option that appeals and continue making selections until a record name and thumbnail image is displayed. Clicking on the record name will display all the information held about that record.

3 Searching

There are 3 ways to search the collections. These are:

3a Simple Searching

The simple search facility allows a text string to be searched across all fields in the database; for example, entering INDIA will return all records that contain the text string ‘INDIA’ regardless of what field it is stored in.

3b Advanced Search

The advanced search screen combines the simple search facility with a set of additional fields that can be searched for specific entries: Genus, Species, Infra species, Specimen Status, Collector, Collection Date, Geography, Locality and Country. Completing more fields will produce a much more refined results list.

3c Savage Number:

For those familiar with the Savage catalogue numbers then the ‘Savage Number’ feature will allow users to locate specific records. Eg. Key in 3.5 and click the Search button or press the Enter key to display the detail record directly.

4 Search Results

The search results screen will list the detail of the search, including the number of matching records. The list itself contains the name of the record and a thumbnail image. The list is sorted by genus and species, although the order can be changed. Clicking on the name will display the detailed information for the selected record with a larger image.

5 Detail Page Layout

The detail record page is split into 2 sections. The top part of the page contains data extracted directly from the specimen sheet, the lower part of the page contains additional information that has been derived when the Savage catalogue was transcribed into an electronic format. These derived data have been included to make the information more useful.

The image is displayed at the top of the screen. Moving the mouse pointer over the image will display a larger image to one side of the screen. To open a window that will allow zooming of the image you need to click on the ‘Zoomable Image’ link.

6 Images

An integrated tool, FSI (Flash-based Single Source Image) Viewer, has been included with the collections to enable users to zoom in to very small sections of the specimens to see close detail. FSI Viewer also comes with a measuring tool. The buttons at the bottom right hand side of the FSI Viewer window are to use the zooming and measuring tools.

From a search results list it is possible to open more than 1 image window at a time so that side by side comparison can be made.

7 Hot Links

Hot links have been set up to allow cross database searching. Hot links include genus, species, collector, collection date, location, geography and country and are represented by a picture of a magnifying glass next to the line of data.

8 Login Features

A facility to register as a user of the collections site has been included. Additional features provided for registered users include: Bookmarks, saved searches and comments. Registering with the site requires a valid email address. Confirmation of the user name selected and a link to complete the registration process will be emailed to the address given.

8a Bookmarks

Users can ‘save’ a link to a particular set of records by clicking on the ‘Bookmark this item’ option at the bottom of the detail records page. There is no limit to the number of bookmarks each user can have. This is a useful way of keeping a list of items currently under research.

8b Saved Searches

Simple and advanced searches can all be saved by running the search and then clicking on ‘Save this search’ option at the bottom of the search results page.