If you've ever put off digitising a photo album then spare a thought for the curators of the world's biggest natural history museums, who are logging a combined 1.1 billion objects in their collections.
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Just one in six objects are believed to have been digitised so far, according to a paper published in the journal Science.
About 4,500 science staff and 4000 volunteers work at the 73 museums - including the Australian Museum in Sydney - that are involved in the effort to create a massive database of their collections.
It's hoped the specimens will be able to eventually help scientists and decision-makers access information that could help address anything from pandemic preparedness and wildlife conservation to food insecurity, human health and even climate change.
The ambitious project is a game changer, according to Australian Museum CEO Kim McKay, who co-authored the paper.
"Each collection item contains a clue from the past and an answer for the future," Ms McKay said.
"Our collective scientific research provides insights into the natural world which would not be possible if museums did not exist."
Ms McKay said an example of this was the Australian Museum's Thylacine, also known as a Tasmanian Tiger, pup specimen which has been digitised and a 3D model made available to view online.
The museum's chief scientist Professor Kris Helgen, also a co-author of the paper, said local collections were particularly important as Australia had been isolated as a continent for so long that many unique species evolved over millions of years.
"(The museum) holds resources in the collection that can't be found anywhere else," Professor Helgen said.
"From fossils of extinct Australian megafauna to irreplaceable frozen tissue samples from our unique wildlife, these specimens are a vital record of the richness of the natural world, and how it changes over time."
The project is being organised by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, the American Museum of Natural History Museum in New York City and the Natural History Museum in London.
The next step is to include hundreds of smaller museums in the project and then organise genomic sequencing of specimens to help increase understanding of the natural world.
Australian Associated Press
