SCC overview
The Specify Collections Consortium (SCC) is a U.S. not-for-profit organization organized under the legal umbrella of the University of Kansas, a public, state university located in Lawrence, Kansas. The SCC is dedicated to advancing digitization and data processing in biological and geological research collections. Our software engineering and technical support is based on 30+ years of engagement with the global research collection community. Over those three decades, we have provided software and technical support to collections of all sizes, ranging from small local repositories to large collections in country-wide museum consortia. Institutional membership in the SCC grants access to our latest Specify software and to technical support. As a member-driven, non-profit organization, SCC institutions also share a strong commitment to collaboratively advance modern, open-source cyberinfrastructure for research collections world-wide.
Membership in the Specify Collections Consortium continues to grow each year increasing our global footprint and collective effort with a vibrant international community of collaborating collections scientists and informatics engineers. We remain dedicated to sustaining research collections with innovative software updates into the future, as well as providing efficient problem-solving and technical support with collections computing. We have been embedded within the research collections community for 30 years, and we have a proven track-record as an effective open-source software partner. During that time we have collaborated with researchers, curators, collection managers, students and volunteers at hundreds of collections worldwide.
We enthusiastically look forward to the possibility of working with the scientists and staff of additional institutions to advance database computing in collections through Specify software, and welcome them into the shared vision and governance of the Specify Collections Consortium as highly-valued and important partners.
Membership Expectations
Country-level
With a large-scale consortium of collections such as a country-wide effort (“Country Consortium”), the SCC team would engage with a single representative as the primary contact (“Point Person”) for the majority of technical interactions. Ideally, the Point Person would be a technical employee of the Country Consortium, responsible for cultivating a technical support relationship with member institutions’ collections staff to develop a deep understanding of their data processing needs and workflows, and handle front-line help desk technical support for member collections staff. SCC personnel will train the Point Person and act as a second level backstop of expertise to accept, research, and resolve complex issues. SCC would anticipate that the Point Person, or another delegate employee, would be responsible for migrating data from existing legacy systems to Specify databases.