Makelabels: a Bash script for generating data matrix codes for collection management

Abstract

Digitization of natural history collections allows easy access and reuse of the invaluable biodiversity data held within a collection by providing access to specimen level datathrough the Internet. Each digitized specimen in a database requires a unique catalognumber to distinguish it from the many other biologically unique specimens within thecollection. However, there are few open source barcode generators available, and of theseeven fewer platforms exist to enable the mass production of barcode labels required bynatural history collections. We developed a low-cost, open source solution to generatingdata matrix barcodes with unique catalog numbers for use in the Virginia Tech InsectCollection.New informationHere we describe the makelabels script, which uses the open source Unix packageslibdmtx and ImageMagick to generate unique specimen labels containing both a human-readable catalog number and a machine-readable data matrix barcode. The massproduction of labels and use of both types of catalog symbology provides flexibility inspecimen management and increased efficiency in digitization and specimen processingworkflows.