The santa barbara botanic garden will conduct a database modernization and integration initiative to document and more broadly share its living collections consisting of 1,500 different types of…

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden will receive $330,058 under a Project Grant award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services' Museums for America program (CFDA 45.301) to conduct a database modernization and integration initiative documenting its 1,500-type living collection of California native plants. The Garden will hire a living collections curator and integrate three existing collection databases, completing a comprehensive inventory. It will migrate, validate, and reconcile living collection, seed bank, and location data. The updated and integrated database will be made available to the public through a new online access portal. The project aims to improve collections management and systematically track plant health, condition, seed bank and propagation records, and provenance over time.

The santa barbara botanic garden will conduct a database modernization and integration initiative to document and more broadly share its living collections consisting of 1,500 different types of california native plants. Project activities include hiring a living collections curator, integrating three existing collection databases, and completing a comprehensive inventory of the native plant collection. The project team will migrate, validate, and reconcile living collection data, seed bank data and location data. The project will provide valuable tools to improve collections management and help staff to optimize the systematic tracking of plant health, plant condition, seed bank and propagation records and provenance. In addition, this tool will help staff track plant health over time, and cross reference impacts on the living collections due to changing climactic conditions. The updated and integrated database will be available to the public through a new online access portal.