Collection Data and Specimen Labeling

A specimen is only as useful as its associated data, so it is important to take good field notes [link to file currently at: UTC_admin_shared\UTC webpage\images_etc_toLinkTo\How to templates and images\UTC_specimenCollectionAndDonationProtocol.pdf] and produce informative specimen labels.

One way to do this is within our herbarium database itself; this approach can rapidly produce labels and data that are ready to be available online, but requires some training. If you are interested in this way of managing your data and specimens, please reach out to the Associate Curator.

A second approach is to enter your collection data into a spreadsheet, and then use that spreadsheet to produce your labels.

For example, this spreadsheet [link to file currently at: UTC_admin_shared\UTC webpage\images_etc_toLinkTo\How to templates and images\label_data_template.docx] provides fields for the sorts of data that are useful (see the “README” tab for instructions). The associated mail merge file [link to file currently at: UTC_admin_shared\UTC webpage\images_etc_toLinkTo\How to templates and images\label_template.docx] will pull in the data from the “toPrint” tab in the excel file to make formatted labels. More instructions are available here [link to file currently at: UTC_admin_shared\UTC webpage\images_etc_toLinkTo\How to templates and images\SpecimenData_andLabelMakingProtocol.pdf].

[display label image currently at UTC_admin_shared\UTC webpage\images_etc_toLinkTo\How to templates and images\exampleLabel.pdf with the caption “An example specimen label created using this spreadsheet + mail merge approach.” ]