Get Involved with the Herbarium

The data in the collection has been partially digitized, with some 65,500 images available online via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. However, annotation of the metadata associated with these images is still ongoing. Learn about ongoing efforts and how you can volunteer or participate in this effort. To achieve this task, there is currently a partnership with the Canadian Museum of Nature to help accelerate this process, through an online citizen science project, as well as help from students carrying out internships at the herbarium. Results are being published and released through an online portal hosted on the Consortium of Northeastern Herbarium.

Part-Time Volunteering

People interested in learning how to mount and take pictures of herbarium specimens can contact Carole Ann Lacroix (botcal@uoguelph.ca). Part-time volunteering is done on a flexible basis. 

Biol 3660 – Internship in Biological Sciences

There is also the opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to carry out a 100-hour internship for course credit (BIOL*3660). If you are interested or have questions, please contact Dr. Edeline Gagnon (edeline.gagnon@uoguelph.ca). Availability of this internship varies depending on the semester and availability of the instructor. 

What you'll learn:

• Plant diversity and nomenclature
• How to mount and handle herbarium specimens (as space permits)
• Digitization techniques and workflows
• Database structures and data cleaning
• Data standards of global biodiversity portals like SYMBIOTA and GBIF
• How to process data from a citizen science project

What you'll need:

• Your own personal computer
• A keen interest in plants and learning about biodiversity data

To express interest or ask questions, please contact Dr. Edeline Gagnon (edeline.gagnon@uoguelph.ca).