Digitisation and Imaging
We are on the way to making all our data and images available online. This will allow us and researchers worldwide to search and work with our collections in novel ways, in partial fulfilment of our commitment to data repatriation under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
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Data Availability
Our data are freely available via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and DigiHerb web portals. We recommend that researchers looking to search for specific species, collectors, or collections take advantage of the user-friendly interface provided by DigiHerb. Researchers looking to use data in downstream analyses will likely find the bulk download tools provided by GBIF advantageous.
We have to date databased and imaged approximately 10% of our collection and are committed to completing this process by 2031. If data and images for any plant, fungal, or algal group would be useful to your research, please email the curator Dr Peter Moonlight and digitisation coordinator Madison Windsor. We are happy to accommodate image requests where possible.
Digitisation in Trinity College Dublin Herbarium
In September 2024, the herbarium installed a state-of-the-art digitisation suite courtesy of funding from the National Parks and Wildlife Service under the project Transforming Trinity’s Herbarium. This funding runs until 2031 and will allow us to image and fully database our herbarium collections, and to share the data online.
We have minimally databased our entire British and Irish Vascular Plant collections (c.20k specimens). We are now proceeding to minimally database and image selected families in the World Vascular Plant collections (c.50k images completed, May 2026). Prior to the project, we also databased and imaged all known type collections with funding from the Mellon Foundation, as well as specimens of known historical and scientific interest, including Harvey’s Travelling Sets of Algae.
Our collections contain historic materials which may contain terminology which is inappropriate, outdated, offensive, or distressing. Such material does not reflect the current values of Trinity College Dublin. We further note that the values, motives, and methods of many collectors whose material we host do not satisfy our values or modern best practices.
We would welcome feedback about the language or any other aspect of the content of our collections. While we cannot change certain data associated with our collections (e.g. species names), we will consider all requests for changes to any other aspects of our collection data.