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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
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Department of Entomology

Collections Access

The Department of Entomology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History holds one of the finest insect collections in the world. The official abbreviation for citing this museum as a repository is USNM, which stems from the museum's original name, the United States National Museum. 

Please join us here for a virtual tour.

While the collection is administered by the Smithsonian Institution, research and curation is conducted by scientists from four separate U.S. government agencies:

The responsibilities for curation and loan requests are divided among the four agencies. To obtain a loan or other information about the collections, please refer to the current list of contact people available via the link below.

The Entomology collections are accessible to qualified scientists and graduate students with stated research objectives and are not available for public tours.

Scientists and graduate students wishing to conduct research in the Department of Entomology should contact the appropriate staff member well in advance of your anticipated arrival to make arrangements for your visit. Advanced notice is critical to ensure availability of the collections, the workspace and any laboratory equipment you may require.

Access the Collections

Collections Contact Information
Entomology Collections Database
Museum Collections Policies

USNM Entomology Digital Imaging Guidelines

Use these guidelines to create high-quality digital surrogates of USNM specimens. Doing so will ensure that we have images that can be published on the Smithsonian Open Access Portal, and used for analysis, documentation, and visual reference. If you have any questions, please contact Jessica Bird, Entomology Informatics Manager (email: birdj@si.edu or phone: 502-599-3157) or email the Entomology Informatics Unit resource account (NMNH-ENT-Informatics@si.edu).

Image Guidelines

  • When possible, include a scale and a color reference.
  • Specimens being imaged must have a USNMENT unique specimen identifier label (USNMENT label). If the specimen has not been assigned a USNMENT label, please request them from the Collection Manager (Floyd Shockley, email: ShockleyF@si.edu). One USNMENT label should be assigned to each specimen. Please ensure that you do not pin through the matrix code.
  • Please include a full specimen image in the view that best represents the group (typically a dorsal or lateral view).
  • Always submit images of the labels, which must include the USNMENT label.
    Labels should always be returned to the pin in the exact same order they were found, with the USNMENT label placed last and upside down (unless specific instructions from the curator are received).
  • All images should be delivered in TIF format, using the best resolution available. Do not submit RAW, JPEG, or proprietary formats.
  • Submit all images to the Entomology Informatics Manager via the shared departmental OneDrive or DropBox folder. To gain access to the shared drives, please email NMNH-ENT-Informatics@si.edu.  When submitting photos using shared drives such as OneDrive or DropBox, please create your own folder using your last name and date (e.g., Bird_29Jul2023). You may also arrange delivery in your preferred format by emailing the resource account.

File Naming

  • Use the following structure for the file name: USNMENTxxxxxxxx_Genus_species_view.tif
  • The USNMENT# (no spaces or dashes and all leading zeros included) and the species name must be in the file name, along with the view captured. Please refrain from the use of spaces or special characters. If multiple photos of the same view are taken, please use a number series to distinguish the images.
    • Examples:
      • USNMENT00123456_Euxoa_alba_label.tif
      • USNMENT01234567_Euxoa_alba_lateral_01.tif
      • USNMENT01234567_Euxoa_alba_lateral_02.tif
      • USNMENT12345678_Unidentified_sp_dorsal.tif

Specimen Data Capture and Image Publication
To publish specimen images online, there must be a corresponding specimen catalog record in our Research and Collections Information System (RCIS) EMu. Please see our data template and user guidelines. All images marked to publish in EMu will be posted on the public side of EMu and on the Smithsonian Open Access portal (https://www.si.edu/openaccess). Viewers will have the option of downloading images in various resolutions from both platforms.

Note that the EZID on the public EMu record (e.g., http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3ea3c3b2f-78ce-4f1e-a092-a9c60032f161) can be shared with colleagues and cited as the ‘repository’ of the images in publications, etc. This EZID works similarly to an article DOI and will always be resolvable in the future to access the images.

Image Usage Rights
As of February 2020, the Smithsonian has launched an Open Access initiative. Most images will now carry a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation and are in the public domain. Currently, there are a few restrictions for CC0 designation that pertain to entomological specimens such as when (1) specimens were collected in Brazil and (2) the labels imaged are of endangered or protected species. If your images contain either of these, or you have a reason falling within SD 609 to restrict specimen images, please notify the Entomology Informatics Manager of the images that need to be restricted. The photographer will always be credited for the image created.

Embedded Metadata
If you have access to editing your camera’s IPTC block of fields, please populate as instructed below. You may leave the EXIF and XMP alone.

  • DOCUMENT TITLE (populates Title field): Use the above file name convention as it contains all the information required by the standards. Do not include the extension.
  • AUTHOR/CREATOR (populates Creator field): the name of the person who created the image (e.g., photographer, scanner, etc.), use “Department of Entomology” when unknown.
  • COPYRIGHT NOTICE (populates Rights field): The most common entry in this field will be CC0. If the image needs to be restricted (based on valid restrictions listed in the Image Usage Rights section) please leave this field blank and contact the Entomology Informatics Manager.
  • SOURCE (Populates the Source field): Most of our images will depict an object/specimen in the collection. Please use the following statement: “Specimen from Department of Entomology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM)”. Do not use a description of how the image was captured such as “flatbed scanner”, or the camera brand.

Image Archives
All images uploaded to EMu are considered the archived master image. Once the images are in EMu, they are permanently stored by the Smithsonian DAMS (Digital Asset Management System). If you want to save your images in RAW for archival purposes, you will be required to convert them to Digital Negative (DNG) format. If you want to save image slices of Extended Depth of Focus these must be saved as TIF or DNG, and follow the above naming convention. Please contact the Entomology Informatics Manager, as these files cannot currently be stored in EMu, and will follow a different workflow.

v. August 2023