[NHCOLL-L:2338] RE: (no subject)

[Susan Woodward]

I would agree completely with Jean.  I manage a mammal collection.  We
organize the collection systematically by -Order, Family - and and
alphabetically -Subfamily (Rodents only), Country, Province/State,
County, where appropriate-.  I have developed a few wayfinding
documents and diagrams to assist people using the collection.  The most
valuable of these is a database to the Genus level with the cabinet
number or number range in which each Genus is found, and the shelf
number (or range) upon which wet material is stored.  Sorted lists by
cabinet, genus, or higher level systematic groupings provide all the
info anyone needs to find material in the collection, assuming they know
their alphabet!  To document organization to any finer level is simply a
make-work project given the staffing levels and demands on our time.

Good luck,
Susan Woodward


Susan M. Woodward
Assistant Curator
Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation
     Biology - Mammals
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queens Park
Toronto, ON
M5S 2C6

Phone      416 / 586-5768
                 (internally dial 5084)
FAX          416 / 586-7921
E-mail       susanw @ rom.on.ca  

>>> "Demouthe, Jean" <jdemouthe at calacademy.org> 6/17/2004 11:41:16 AM
>>>
Dear Mark:

While I agree that it is wonderful to know exactly where each specimen
is, it
is difficult to maintain the accuracy of this level of information in
an
active collection unless you have the staff to stay on top of every
move and
transaction.

I suggest you evaluate your available staff time and decide how it will
best
be spent, based on how your collections are used.  

good luck.

Jean DeMouthe
Cal. Academy of Sciences
San Francisco



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On
Behalf Of Mark McNamara
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 7:39 AM
To: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu 
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:2322] (no subject)

We have a multidiscplinary collection consisting of 44,000 catologed
specimens divided into Herbarium, Malacology, Geology, Paleontology,
Ornithology, Herpetology, Entomology, Mammalogy, etc.  

We have traditionally recorded the location of the specimens in the
database down to the drawer or shelf in most cases.  This is both
wonderful when you are looking for a specific item and tediuos when
things are disorganized.

I feel that it is essential to know the exact location down to the
drawer, but a co-worker disagrees.

Should we continue this level of organization or would it be
acceptable
to just know what cabinet specimens are located in?

What is the most common/best practice?  Any thoughts?



Your Friend,

Mark McNamara
Natural History Collection Manager
Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History
1900 N. Chaparral Street
Corpus Christi, Texas 78401
Email: MarkM at CCTexas.com 
Web Page: www.CCMuseum.com