[NHCOLL-L:2667] Re: Citations about research loans

Sat May 21 16:32:35 EDT 2005

Hello Mariko,
     I have a number of literature sources for you, but they tend to be more specific for plants/herbaria, as I have been working on an herbarium bibliography.  There are references to natural history collections in general also.
     The first part provides some input by author (and some entries are included, at times, because of a passing reference while the main thrust of the writing might be directed elsewhere and not that much oriented to loans per se).  The second part consists of entries from an annotated bibliography.  I have to say that there probably many more references, but the sampling I am sending you is based on the readings (and associated dissections) I have completed thus far (i.e. I searched on “loan” and came up with the listing below).
    I would think that some of your questions can be answered on web-sites, plus one would hope that people might send you some of their forms and policies.
Ann

ACSRB 1979 figures for four major categories of expenditure that influence costs of herbarium service: specimen actions for routine service needs such as accessioning, mounting, loans (with costs generally lower in the largest herbaria); single most important activity of [major] herbaria is to loan specimens to researchers who cannot visit; cost figures for accessioning, mounting, loans et al. from some subsets (by size) of the  “National Resource Collections” (105 US herbaria of described significance of various sizes); costs & methodology for value of a specimen 
Anderson 1996 herbarium evaluation should be based on loan and research activity, publications and students rather than the more traditional rate of growth; loans not common practice in 18th and 19th centuries; overall loan activity is reduced by regular collections of several duplicates 
Anonymous 1983 re Latin America: mention of exchanging fumigants for specimens (so that US loan material can be fumigated while on loan) - not considered practical; check with recipient first to determine if it has the funds to release plant shipment; mention of possibly saturating mounted sheets with Mystox when on loan (to Latin America), but chemical unavailable in US
Anonymous 1985a question of loan length: if traditional period of 6 or 12 months is realistic as loans are often kept well past stated loan period
Anonymous 1985b re length of time: two years is realistic; requesting curator should state anticipated length in writing; lengths will vary with a monographer needing 5 or 6 years, and a student, maybe 3; correspondence re extensions should be eliminated; re types: unrealistic & inefficient to have different loan period for them; requesting letters should always be form curator of borrowing institution and state how specimens would be treated; sender of loan should specify where, how and if annotation labels are to attached by borrower; re shipping: packages should be addressed to curator of recipient institution and not to an individual, especially important if to another country; plain newsprint (often available from campus newspapers) preferable so that print won’t transfer onto sheets); sender of loan should specify where, how and if annotation labels are to attached by borrower
Brenan 1975 most herbaria not using EDP, yet most arrangements permit fairly effective information retrieval; doubtful if any major herbarium can afford to computerise all its holdings or whether it’s worth it; priorities if undertaking E.D.P.: K’s prioritization of entries; skeptical that EDP can control loans/exchanges/“herbarium transactions” more efficiently; main merit of EDP lies in possibilities of rapid, selective information retrieval; EDP, while being useful internally, is even more valuable if it becomes part of an automated inter-institutional international information system   
Duckworth et al. 1993 metal salts have long been used in bioscience collections to protect specimens against pests; various chemicals have been used and many collections have been treated with several different compounds; specimens sent on loan may have been treated with still other chemicals by recipient institution
Edmondson & Gunn 1993 high frequency of loans is influential in selection of materials & methods for specimen preparation ; LIV’s remounting of specimens and labels of an historic collection that is frequently loaned out
Hafner 1994 proposing policy be adopted by all museums that molecular samples extracted from specimens must be returned to the museum (and museums are willing & able to curate such extracts obtained from their collections when on loan), but if museum is unable to store the extracts, they must be deposited in another molecular collection with appropriate cross-references to the original voucher specimen
Huxley 1994 Digitized Imaging Technology being evaluated as means to share specimen, may reduce loans of specimens
Kruckenberg 1960 in regard to role: from survey: #1, research by resident staff, #2, teaching in taxonomy, #3,research via loans to other institutions, #4, public service (identifications), teaching in other courses, #6, public display
Merrill 1948 A activity in past decade: varied from about 1000 to 4000 (an average of 2500 mounted sheets) loaned out a year, with an average of 3000 incoming borrowed sheets; all incoming material (incoming & returned loans, duplicates) undergo immediate fumigation as such are source of (re)infestation; warning issued to borrowers  to use repellents liberally (e. g. PDB, naphthalene) as specimens are not poisoned;  have had experience with loaned material being badly infested, even “utterly destroyed” in one case     
Morin & Crosby 1987 guidelines for phrasing loan requests: should be written by curator of the requesting herbarium (giving name of researcher, his status and nature of project); supply family, genus , species, author, including all synonyms; indicate geographical area of interest; whether types are desired; how the specimens will be stored; request permission to remove material if it is planned, indicate what and why
Murray 1995 for large-scale floristic work, (smaller) regional herbaria, who have better geographic coverage,  should be emphasized to obtain complete results; thereby reducing requests from larger herbaria also; computerized specimen label data helps to limit search for specimens to borrow 
Ogilvie 1985 practice of loans between herbaria is widespread, making a wider range of specimens available for research; files on loans and exchanges are to be kept with collection
Shchepanek 1996 sources of infestation: loans, and other incoming sources
Sommerville 2005 MEL is reducing extent of overseas loan program due to increased inspection fees by Australian Quarantine and inspection service/AQIS, estimated to cost A$10,000 a year (A$85 per parcel,, and A$1000 annual fee); will affect incoming loans to MEL, and MEL specimens returning after being on loan; MEL currently has 80 loans (some consisting of thousands of specimens) at overseas institutions
Thomas 1994 criteria for deciding whether or not a loan for molecular work should be made; discussion about what might be required in return when loaning material for molecular work, such as aliquots of DNA, sequence data, data about project (e.g. GenBank accession numbers), publications
Watson 1986 re palms at FTG: specimen and box are sent together on loan
Whitfield & Cameron 1994a  policies are needed to control destructive sampling of specimens on loan: (per Paabo et al. 1992), with amendment that need to take new individuals be considered; suggestions re what information (e.g. GenBank numbers, extraction protocols, literature citations) lending institutions should require back .”information” rather than the chemical  samples because most museums are not equipped for long-term storage or have curators familiar enough with DNA or protein extraction to maintain and process such properly
Wieboldt 1995 much can be gained from loans from regional herbaria with their recent collections, which tend to reflect the remarkable number of new discoveries; smaller herbaria likely to be more willing to loan; investigators should not request loans until they are ready to consult material and this would reduce the amount of time (6,8, 10 or more years) that they would be away form home institution, thereby making them more available fro more users at home 
Winston 1999 most museums are willing to loan non-type material to any professional biologist; loans to graduate students may require assistance of major advisor; copy of loan form provided; mention of the normal loan duration being 6 months with extensions possible with curator’s approval  [re biological collections in general]

Advisory Committee for Systematic Resources in Botany.  1979.  Systematic Botany Resources in America.  Part II.  The Costs of Services.  New York Botanical Garden.  116 pp.
 Re- survey of the subset of 105 National Resource Collections (delineated in previous study) to determine costs of providing service to the American public and scientists everywhere; examples of how herbaria serve the public; inclusion of articles by Croat (1978) and Nevling (1973).

Anderson, W.R.  1996, The importance of duplicate specimens in herbaria.  IN  Sampling the Green World.  Stuessy T.F., and S.H. Sohmer.  239-248. Columbia University Press, New York.  289 pp.
 Thoughtful deliberation regarding duplicates: their collection, exchange, scientific value, and economic impact on institutions.

Anonymous 1983. [no title] Herbarium News3(9):43-44.
 Report of 1983 Curators’ Meeting with emphasis on herbarium transactions with Latin American countries.

Anonymous.  1985a.  Miscellaneous.  Herbarium News 5(1/2):7.
 Editorial input re future entries into newsletter.

Anonymous. 1985b.  Report from curators’ meeting.  Herbarium News 5(10):59-60
 Topics: length of and requesting letters for loans, annotation labels, shipping & packing.

Brenan, J.P. M.  1975.  E.D.P. in major herbaria - the priorities.  Pp.9-16.  IN J.P. Brennan, R. Ross and J.T. Williams (eds.)  Computers in botanical collections.  Plenum Publishing Corp., New York.  216 pp.
 Impetus to adopt EDP; coverage of the most important tasks to be tackled.

Duckworth, W.D., H.H. Genoways, and C.L. Rose.  1993.  Preserving Natural Science  Collections: Chronicle of Our Environmental Heritage.  National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property, Inc.  140 pp.
 Project report on the need for improved preservation of bioscience and geoscience collections, including research on conservation methods and training for natural science conservators; glossary of selected terms; extensive bibliography.

Edmondson, J. and A. Gunn.  1993.  The Roylean Herbarium conservation project at Liverpool Museum.  Taxon 42 (1):274-75.
 LIV’s remounting of specimens and labels of an historic collection that is frequently loaned out.

Hafner, M.S.  1994.  Reply: Molecular extracts from museum specimens can and should be saved.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.  3(3):270-271.  
 Reply to Whitfield & Cameron; misconception that few museums are willing/capable of curating molecular extracts; proposed policy for museums lending specimens.  (speaking of biological materials in general)  

Huxley, R. 1994.  Aspects of herbarium conservation and management at the Natural History Museum.  In Conservation and the herbarium, ed R.E. Child, 15-18; Institute of Paper Conservation. Leigh, UK.  41 pp.
 The first part addresses conflicts between use and conservation highlighting destructive use (with some suggestions), preservation methods and loans; collaborations between curation and research, and among disciplines is recommended to help solve such conflicts.  The second part outlines a matrix method for assessing and monitoring the state of collections.

Kruckenberg, A.R.  1960.  Location and housing of institutional herbaria in the United States and Canada.  Brittonia 12:295-297.
 Survey of 94 respondents (118 questionnaires sent) including use and access aspects.

Merrill, E.D.  1948.  On the control of destructive insects in the herbarium.  Arnold Arboretum J.  29:103-110.
 Steps taken to overcome severe infestation a decade past, including: Lasioderma  life history; analysis of exposure; discussion of more susceptible groups and parts; description of home-made “bug traps”; emphasis on tight sealing cabinets; short review of other methods.

Morin, N.R, and M.R.Crosby.  Loan requst.  Herbarium News 7(12):80-81.
 Guidelines for phrasing request letters.

Murray, D.  1995.  Strategy for loans.  Flora of North America newsletter 9(2):12.
 How to maximize (floristic) results from loans.

Ogilvie, R.T.  1985.  Botanical collections in museums.  Pp. 13-22 in E.H. Miller, editor.  Museum Collections: Their Roles and Future in Biological Research.  British Columbia Provincial Museum No. 25, Occasional Papers Series, 222 pp. 
 Compilation of herbarium attributes: functions, sizes & characteristics, literature, limitations, trends.

Shchepanek, M.J.  1996.  Observations of temperature and relative humidity during the cooling and warming of botanical specimens for insect pest control.  Collection Forum 12(1):1-7.
 Recommendation of rapid cooling (-30° for four days) and slow warming as pest control, with relative humidity changes of little concern.

Thomas, R.H.  1994.  Molecules, museums and vouchers.  Trends in Ecology and Evolution.  9(11):413-414.  
 Review of opinions concerning sampling, deposition of DNA extracts and/or processing information of natural history specimens in general (zoologist author) with a brief look to the future.

Watson, J.B.  1986.  Storage of palm specimens in herbaria.  Herbarium News 6(10):54-55.
 Details of how FTG stores and ships palms and some other bulky plants.

Whitfield, J.B., and S.A. Cameron.  1994a.  Museum policies concerning specimen loans for molecular systematic research.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 3(3):268-270.   
 Letter of support and suggestions for policies regarding loans when destructive analysis will occur; expectation that few museums could properly care for extracts if returned.  (speaking of biological materials in general).

Wiebodt, T.F.  1995.  Response to strategy for loans. Flora of North America Newsletter 9(3-4):22
 Commentary about value of borrowing from smaller, regional herbaria.

Winston, J.E.  1999.  Establishing identity: using museum collections.  In Describing species: practical taxonomic procedure for biologists.  J. E. Winston, 95-112. Columbia University Press 518 pp.
 Brief description of biological collections (both plant and animal) from point of view of how to access them.

Ann Pinzl
4020 Hobart Road
Carson City, Nevada 89703
USA
phone: 775 883 0463

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Mariko Kageyama <mariko at amnh.org>
To: <NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2005 6:27 AM
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:2666] Citations about research loans

> I am looking for citations that discuss loan activities of natural history
> (especially zoology) collections for scientific purposes including
> historical reviews, vocabulary, standards and best practices, statistics,
> staff responsibility, formats of loan agreement forms, ethical and legal
> issues, international loans, and other general and technical topics in
> relation to loans of natural history specimens. Please respond on or off
> list.
> 
> Thanks a lot in advance.
> 
> 
> Mariko
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mariko Kageyama
> Digital Imaging Specialist
> Department of Mammalogy
> American Museum of Natural History
> 212-769-5287
> 
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