| Recording
Even before you start collecting it's important to give
some thought to how you are going to manage the many
hundreds, if not thousands of samples you may eventually collect, often
in a very short period of time. While some collectors may
feel otherwise, I feel personally that a sand collection is
meaningless without accurate factual information about each individual
sample - where and when it was found and so on. In my own collection recording these details starts in
the field at the very time the sample is collected. Each
sample has the location name, date and sample category, e.g.
beach, written on the sampling bag - these have a white "write-on" panel for this purpose. Other
collectors record much more detail, sometimes into a log
book, but the above are all I need. The numbering of the
samples takes place after the samples are dried and ready
for storage. It's easy to collect duplicate samples, so I
lay out each batch from the same location and discard any
duplicate samples before numbering.
What information you record about a sample is down to the
individual but there are a few basic details that should
always be recorded. These are:
- a unique reference number
- the date the sample was collected
- where the sample was collected
Even if you record nothing else at least try and record
these few items. It should not take you very long. Other things you might want to record are:
- continent and country
- county, region or state
- nearest town or village
- map grid reference number
- description of exact location
- location type: e.g. beach, quarry. etc
All the above does take a little time and if you get into
the habit at the very start of your collecting, you will
reap dividends in the future, being able to refer to every
sample collected. |
