Access nodes are local databases administered by AKN partner organizations whose primary goals are to gather and manage data at the regional level, develop, maintain and share analysis and visualization tools customized to regional or data-specific needs, and then make these data and visualizations available to the AKN.  Access nodes can be region-based or protocol driven in scope (e.g., region-based—California Avian Data Center; protocol driven—LaMNA Banding Node).  Access nodes gather and manage data not only from within the hosting institution(s), but also from outside sources that fall within their scope.  Access nodes may also act as mirrors to other node databases, thereby generating a node back-up system throughout the AKN node.