Background: Correctly identifying organisms is key to most biological research, and is especially critical in areas of biodiversity and conservation. Yet it remains one of the greatest challenges when studying all but the few well-established model systems. The challenge is in part due to the fact that most species have yet to be described, vanishing taxonomic expertise and the relative inaccessibility of taxonomic information. Furthermore, identification keys and other taxonomic resources are based on complex, taxon-specific vocabularies used to describe important morphological characters. Using these resources is made difficult by the fact that taxonomic documentation of the world's biodiversity is an international endeavor, and keys and field guides are not always available in the practitioner's native language.

New Information: To address this challenge, we have developed a publicly available on-line illustrated multilingual glossary and translation tool for technical taxonomic terms using the Symbiota Software Project biodiversity platform. Illustrations, photographs and translations have been sourced from the global community of taxonomists working with marine invertebrates and seaweeds. These can be used as single-language illustrated glossaries or to make customized translation tables. The glossary has been launched with terms and illustrations of seaweeds, tunicates, sponges, hydrozoans, sea anemones, and nemerteans, and already includes translations into seven languages for some groups. Additional translations and development of terms for more taxa are underway, but the ultimate utility of this tool depends on active participation of the international taxonomic community.

The Arizona State University Herbarium began in 1896 when Professor Fredrick Irish collected the first recorded Arizona specimen for what was then called the Tempe Normal School - a Parkinsonia microphylla. Since then, the collection has grown to approximately 400,000 specimens of vascular plants and lichens. The most recent project includes the digitization - both the imaging and databasing - of approximately 55,000 vascular plant specimens from Latin America. To accomplish this efficiently, possibilities in non-traditional methods, including both new and existing technologies, were explored. SALIX (semi-automatic label information extraction) was developed as the central tool to handle automatic parsing, along with BarcodeRenamer (BCR) to automate image file renaming by barcode. These two developments, combined with existing technologies, make up the SALIX Method. The SALIX Method provides a way to digitize herbarium specimens more efficiently than the traditional approach of entering data solely through keystroking. Using digital imaging, optical character recognition, and automatic parsing, I found that the SALIX Method processes data at an average rate that is 30% faster than typing. Data entry speed is dependent on user proficiency, label quality, and to a lesser degree, label length. This method is used to capture full specimen records, including close-up images where applicable. Access to biodiversity data is limited by the time and resources required to digitize, but I have found that it is possible to do so at a rate that is faster than typing. Finally, I experiment with the use of digital field guides in advancing access to biodiversity data, to stimulate public engagement in natural history collections.