There is a very wide range of databases and culture collection management software in use in Australian culture collections. Databases have been designed to meet individual collection needs and some software programs are no longer supported. A few collections use state of the art software such as KE Emu http://www.kesoftware.com/ and BioloMICS http://www.bio-aware.com/BioloMICS.aspx , and others use the CSIRO BioLink software, or various off the shelf spreadsheet software.

 We need to decide how to develop and maintain the databases. I do not believe that we can or should impose a single software database system on individual collections but databases need to meet the requirements of the Atlas of Living Australia. Until we discuss this matter further I do not have a clear image of the final network data base structure. Given that we are not developing a database network from scratch, it seems to me that the final structure will be a mix of distributed collection databases using several database software systems, but there is also a possibility to include some centralised, but independent, databases running off a single software program on a shared server, particularly for small collections which do not wish to or cannot invest in their own server and software. This can be achieved by web based systems and seems to be a cost effective solution for may collections.

Networking culture collections efficiently to meet culture collection, network, Atlas of Living Australia, international, and user needs requires agreement on the information stored in databases including field descriptions. While there will be some differences between the fields of information stored in different collections, there is a need for the core information to be delivered through the common portal to be standardised. This helps in sharing and interpreting information. A considerable amount of work has already been done by the European collections and we do not need to reinvent the wheel. Information on datasets for different groups of microorganism can be viewed at the CABRI (Common Access to Biological Resources and Information) website http://www.cabri.org/ .To effectively network, we will need to work towards agreement on internationally recognised data standards and the provision of a common set of minimal data fields.

Lindsay Sly