Keep Calm and Digitize Everything

Abstract Accessibility and interoperability of biodiversity data are pivotal for research. Thus, the mobilization of natural history specimens data should be a priority task, which could be addressed by mean of digitization. Digital specimen are for a wealth of different uses, ranging from taxonomy to benefit sharing, and—if data are properly standardized—are highly interoperable. However, of the ca. 1.5–3 billion specimens estimated otherwise exist, ca. 233 million only are available in the digital domain, since digitization is an highly demanding effort, in terms of time, personnel, and fundings. On the other hand, digitization is also a rewarding effort, especially when data are mobilized and made interoperable in major global repositories, as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. This contribution aims at depicting the role and effect of digitization of natural history collections, and the result of digitization efforts in Europe and in Italy in the last three decades.