University of Utah (Utah Museum of Natural History)

The Natural History Museum of Utah will digitize specimen-level label data of 36,000 historic pinned butterfly and moth specimens from its collection and upload the data into the online database, Southwest Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN). The museum will temporarily employ an experienced data entry specialist with an entomology background to transfer specimen data directly from labels and, for the first time, put the information into an electronic format to create a comprehensive in-house database to better care for the collection. The database will also serve as a free, rich source of data for external researchers from multiple disciplines to quantify the ecological and evolutionary impacts of climate and land use on key arthropod groups.