BarnebyLives: An R package to create herbarium specimen labels and clean spreadsheets
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Premise: Accessioning herbarium specimens is labor intensive, yet remains vital for research in ecology, evolution, and conservation. As institutional support for herbaria declines, efficient tools are needed to streamline this process. The R package BarnebyLives was developed to assist collectors by supplementing collection notes, verifying taxonomic data, conducting quality checks, generating labels, and submitting digital records. Methods and Results: BarnebyLives integrates geospatial data from U.S. government sources to provide jurisdictional and site information and checks taxonomic names using in-house spell checkers, International Plant Names Index (IPNI) author standards, and Kew's Plants of the World Online. Optional features include generating Google Maps driving directions. The tool outputs data in tabular and spatial formats for review before producing LaTeX-based labels and shipping manifests. Conclusions: BarnebyLives improves data accuracy, ensures up-to-date taxonomy, and significantly reduces the time and effort required to accession herbarium specimens in the United States.
Source: Applications in Plant Sciences
DOI: 10.1002/aps3.70077
Authors: Reed Clark Benkendorf, Jeremie B. Fant
Institutions: Northwestern University, Chicago Botanic Garden
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,340
OpenAlex ID: W7203783806