The Global Registry of Scientific Collections (GRSciColl), is a comprehensive and community-curated clearinghouse of collection information hosted in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) registry. It serves as a valuable resource for researchers, institutions and the scientific community at large. GRSciColl provides information about physical scientific collections, including their content, location, contacts, and associated institutions. It also serves as a reference for institution and collection codes and identifiers.

The information available in GRSciColl is easily accessible through its website and the Application Programming Interface. Users can search for institutions and collections based on various attributes such as country, city, or preservation types. The GRSciColl lookup service enables the resolution of institution and collection codes and identifiers, promoting database interoperability and facilitating links with other systems.

One notable application of GRSciColl is the linking of specimen-related occurrences published on GBIF with institution and collection entries in GRSciColl. This linkage, based on institution and collection codes and identifiers, enables the aggregation of specimen-related occurrences under their respective GRSciColl-registered collections and institutions. This feature provides valuable insights into the progress of collection digitization efforts, regardless of the publishing method on GBIF. Moreover, GRSciColl's collaboration with Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) and the United Kingdom Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo UK) further enhances the visibility of collections by displaying their information on the iDigBio portal and on the UK Natural Sciences Collections Portal.

The information in GRSciColl is maintained by a community of editors, including representatives from registered institutions and national editors. The suggestion system enables anyone to contribute by updating, adding, or merging records, which are then reviewed by relevant individuals. GRSciColl also synchronizes regularly with external sources such as Index Herbariorum, ensuring up-to-date and reliable information.

In this presentation, we will highlight the ongoing work on improving GRSciColl. We will share our roadmap, give an update on how we are making GRSciColl compatible with the forthcoming Latimer Core standard (Woodburn et al. 2022), present the new GRSciColl web interface, and share opportuntities to get involved in the curation and development of GRSciColl.

By working together with the community, GRSciColl continues to evolve and provide a reliable platform to make collections more discoverable.

GBIF, community, editors, API, specimens, digital collection, collection code, collection identifier, institution code, institution identifier, roadmap

Marie Grosjean

TDWG 2023