Coming together for studbooks

ZIMS for Studbooks

We are getting really excited about our upcoming release of ZIMS for Studbooks. It will be a great tool to help our community better manage the animals, species, and populations that we serve. It will provide a single source for well over 1,000 studbooks and help integrate those studbooks with institutional collection data from over 1,000 Species360 (formerly ISIS) members in 88 different countries.

This goal would not be possible without the partnership and collaboration of our regional association partners, especially AZA, EAZA, WAZA, and ZAA (Australia). Thank you, Regional Association partners! Our overall goal is to help support their programs with our tools and related data. They have played a vital role in helping to design our product and plan for its deployment to their members, including pricing. They will also help define how ZIMS for Studbooks is used for their programs.

AZA, in particular, was in the unique position of having PopLink, its own studbook management software. Our partnership was formalized by a mutually agreed memorandum of understanding (MOU) to unify its programs under one software tool, ZIMS for Studbooks, which will replace PopLink and SPARKS as a single solution for AZA members. The MOU was signed by AZA, AZA’s Population Management Center (PMC), and the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Approximately 95% of the studbooks authorized by these regional associations are held by institutions that are already Species360 members. ZIMS for Studbooks is included with Species360 membership.  This was the same for SPARKS, our current studbook software product.  This is a huge benefit to share the costs of developing and enhancing ZIMS for Studbooks across a global membership, which continues grow our partnerships with other regional association partners like SEAZA, JAZA, ALPZA, PAZAA, CZA, among many others.

There are some studbooks held at non-Species360 members, approximately 5% of the total number authorized by AZA, EAZA, WAZA, and ZAA (Australia). We will support these studbooks in ZIMS too.  It will come at a cost though. The cost to non-members will help share the responsibility of ZIMS for Studbooks across those institutions that use it. The costs are already shared by Species360 members, as a part of their membership. The costs are not intended to be paid by the studbook keepers themselves.  This ensures a sustainable software product for our community. Please click here for an FAQ with more details.

Katelyn Mucha, Product Manager of ZIMS for Studbooks, will be sharing more details on the software itself and timelines. Look for that soon!

–Doug Verduzco, Chief Information Officer, Species360