Many of the records in the Collections Database refer to specimens residing in reference collections. An important aspect of the structure of this database is therefore to provide an indication of where those specimens may be found. Reference collections do not necessarily last for ever. They may be moved, disbanded, amalgamated or even destroyed. The important private mycological collection of Ted Ellis, for example, was moved to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew after his death. Mycologists, furthermore, have a habit of dividing a single specimen and sending the parts to different reference collections. One specimen may therefore be at different times in different collections.
The Collections Other Collections Cross-reference Table provides a place to store reference collection information which recognizes this need for a many-to-one relationship. Only some of the available fields are considered here. The BMS databases each provide one field, 3 characters long ([Location of Specimen] and [Loc of specimen]), to identify one collection associated with the current record, the BMS Foray Records Database also provides another field, 7 characters long [Record Number], with data which may belong here, identifying the current item in the BMS Recorder's database.
A link to the unique observation identifier, 8 characters, indexed
This field stores the numeric link between the Collections Other Collections Cross-reference Table and other tables in the Collections Database.
Free-text information identifying the current reference collection, 200 characters
Structured information identifying the current reference collection, 20 characters
The publication Index Herbariorum (Holmgren et al., 1990) lists internationally recognized dried reference collections. Each collection is allocated a unique code which identifies it. Where such structured information is available for the current specimen, it is included in [CothColcoA]. Many collections, however, are personal or otherwise not internationally recognized, and no code is available. Information identifying such collections is placed in the free-text field [CothColl_A]. The BMS database fields [Location of Specimen] and [Loc of specimen] contain data belonging here.
Accession number in current reference collection, 50 characters
Many reference collections issue accession numbers to items received. The number issued by a particular collection to the current specimen is stored in this field.
Day of entry to the collection, 2 characters
Month of entry to the collection, 2 characters
Year of entry to the collection, 4 characters
Day of exit from the collection, 2 characters
Month of exit from the collection, 2 characters
Year of exit from the collection, 4 characters
These fields store the date of arrival of material in a collection and, if necessary, the subsequent date of departure, in a format similar to the date fields in the Collections People Cross-reference Table.