The Valdosta State University Herbarium (VSC) provides a repository for the preservation of voucher specimens that document the flora of the Coastal Plain region of Georgia and specimens from a broader geographical area that might be useful in the study of the flora of this region and that enable specialized research on particular groups of plants carried out by faculty and students in residence at Valdosta State University and by taxonomic specialists at other institutions. VSC also provides specimens for use in teaching, and its staff responds to requests from the general public, natural resource managers, agricultural scientists, and others by providing information about plants and service determinations of unknown plants and, where appropriate, preserving vouchers relating to such.

In 2009 the Valdosta State University Herbarium established a SQL database, and in 2011 obtained support from the National Science Foundation that enabled the purchase of an imaging system and other equipment and the employment of student assistants to begin capturing images and building the database. As of early 2013. more than half of our specimens have been imaged and databased. including images and data from more than 4.000 bryophyte and lichen specimens that are being served through the Consortium of North American Bryophyte Herbaria https://bryophyteportal.org/portal/index.php. Specimen data and images are continually being captured. Certain families may not have been processed yet: however, eventually all will be available through the VSU Virtual Herbarium.

Dr. Austin Mast is gratefully acknowledged for sharing code developed for the R.K. Godfrey Herbarium web site at Florida State University, which provided the template for the Valdosta State University Virtual Herbarium. The National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged for funding digitization of the Valdosta State University Herbarium (DBI 1054366. R. Carter PI), and the Valdosta State University Faculty Research Fund (M. Holt PI, R. Carter Co-I) provided additional funding for the development of the VSU Virtual Herbarium

The Virtual Herbarium is a collaborative project between the Odum Library and the Herbarium of Valdosta State University.