A microcomputer-based information storage and retrieval system for the maintenance of records for a culture...

A microcomputer-based system for the storage and retrieval of information on strains in a culture collection is described. The system was designed around commercially available software packages written for microcomputers. Two additional programs were written using the BASIC language to allow a catalogue of the culture collection to be printed in a specific format. The details of each strain in the collection were stored on a floppy disc. Details of new strains were added to this database and information relating to existing cultures was modified or, where necessary, deleted from the collection. The database can be searched to supply details of a particular culture or to identify those cultures which possess certain attributes. The records for the whole collection were sorted alphabetically by species name, and numerically by accession number, and a word-processing package was used to print a catalogue of the culture collection.