[Nhcoll-l] FW: Museum collections

[Peter Rauch]

The VP's response continues the puzzlement over the disposition of the
"collection" (vis a vis the "museum"). I'm not puzzled about a university
administration's determination about the value of is natural history
collection(s), nor about their decisions to deaccession entire collections
--it's an old story with lots of reasons offered for those actions, some
sound, some questionable.  But,...

The VP identifies, ambiguously, the university's Museum, and the
university's "research collections", and the "teaching collection".

The research and teaching collection ARE the Museum, or maybe not the
entire Museum?

The research collection is where the teaching faculty draw their teaching
materials from. The research collection is also used by "outside
researchers", by loan and on-site visitation.

It will be permissible to house a small(er) teaching collection --extracted
from the larger collection-- on campus (but apparently not in the Museum?).

Any institution willing to accept the bulk of the collection (the
"research" collection) must be willing to transport the collection to their
site --does "transport" mean pay to transport, pay to package the
collection in a transport-safe system, both, or is ULM going to cover the
some/all of moving expenses?

The word "disposal" arises again, with little room for interpretation
beyond the implication of destruction of the collection --the dumpster
interpretation. Such disposal looms very large given the short period of
time the VP gives any potential recipient of a donation to ponder all the
implications (space, cost, right now decision-making) of being interested
and willing to accept the "donation".

And finally, the confusing afterthought --the Museum is not only not
closing, but is to be expanded!  Yet there is no nexus made by the VP
between the persistence and expansion of the Museum, and the determination
to dispose of the Museum's inventory.

The due respect, given by the VP in his letter, to ULM's natural history
research collection seems to be greatly diminished by the actual deeds
planned and time frame provided, and by the reader having been given no
substantive insight as to the fundamental need (related to space, cost,
mission) by this university to divest itself of its natural history
collection.

Peter

On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 5:16 PM, Mayfield, Teresa <tmayfield at utep.edu>
wrote:

> One of our curators wrote to ULM and this was the response.
>
>
>
> *Teresa J. Mayfield*
> Manager, UTEP Biodiversity Collections
>
>
>
> University of Texas at El Paso
> 500 West University Avenue
> El Paso, TX 79968*
> Biology Bldg. #222
>
>
>
> Office/Lab: (915) 747-5479  FAX: (915) 747-5808
> E-mail: tmayfield at utep.edu
>
>
> *zip code 79902 for FEDEX/UPS deliveries
>
> Website:  https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.utep.edu_leb_default.htm&d=DwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=nixIMxQDqZATRnJBg6gAdcYUMeeifB9ReeLtX8qe4iE&s=d_qWPEz_71CqTloqbNAxxHqn_T1Dq43Q3QK-Kkka2OM&e= 
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.utep.edu_leb_default.htm&d=DwMFAg&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=iu03JQsq99FERpHag0N6zLVwPwGnybacDPncmanuBpk&s=OZVTXAZ1K-_jwBvSXpWC6aS2LwQ7X8kCy3WVpEfLhRU&e=>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Eric Pani [mailto:pani at ulm.edu]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 29, 2017 4:48 PM
> *To:* Mackay,William <wmackay at utep.edu>
> *Cc:* Cutler, Scott <scutler at utep.edu>; Greenbaum, Eli B <
> egreenbaum2 at utep.edu>; Harris, Arthur <aharris at utep.edu>; Johnson, Jerry <
> jjohnson at utep.edu>; Lavretsky, Philip <plavretsky at utep.edu>; Lieb, Carl <
> clieb at utep.edu>; Moody, Michael L <mlmoody at utep.edu>; Peterson, Markus J <
> mjpeterson at utep.edu>; Walsh, Elizabeth <ewalsh at utep.edu>; Worthington,
> Richard D. <rworthin at utep.edu>; Mayfield, Teresa <tmayfield at utep.edu>
> *Subject:* RE: Museum collections
>
>
>
> Professor Mackay:
>
>
>
> Postings on social media platforms recently have provided erroneous
> information about the decisions made regarding the Museum of Natural
> History at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) and its research
> collections.  I am the person who made those choices and want to provide
> you with a first-hand account that is accurate and true.
>
>
>
> The research collections of plants, fish, amphibian, and reptiles have not
> been used by our students and faculty much in the last few years, except
> for instructional purposes.  Research use has largely been confined to
> people outside ULM from loans we have made to them and visits they have
> made here.  However, we have still had to maintain the collection.  I have
> concluded that the scientific integrity of the Museum’s research collection
> will be better preserved at another institution that has the resources
> needed to house and care for it adequately.  While this decision in not my
> ideal, it makes the most sense for preserving this important resource.  The
> ULM administration will do everything in its power to find the right fit
> for the collection which we hope will be in Louisiana or at least in the
> southeastern United States.
>
>
>
> Given that, I have asked that the Biology faculty pare the collection down
> to something that would meet their teaching needs and that would fit into a
> classroom-sized space. The rest of the collection needed to be moved, and
> they should begin to seek other institutions willing to accept our donation
> and transport the remaining holdings to their new home by mid-July.
> Failing that, disposal of the collection seems to be the only alternative.
> The 48-hr period mentioned in an erroneous Facebook post was the amount of
> time requested to locate other space on our campus where the whole
> collection could be moved.  That search has not located anything suitable.
>
> Please also understand that the Museum is not being closed.  It will
> remain on campus, but we are delaying its expansion for approximately two
> years because of space needs for another academic project that will be
> announced soon.
>
>
>
> I hope that you will help dispel false information about ULM and this
> matter by sharing this email with others.
>
> *********************************
>
> Eric A. Pani
>
> Vice President for Academic Affairs
>
> University of Louisiana at Monroe
>
> 700 University Ave., LIBR 640
>
> Monroe, LA 71209
>
>
>
> Phone; 318-342-1025 <(318)%20342-1025>
>
> Fax: 318-342-1034 <(318)%20342-1034>
>
> Mobile: 318-737-0437 <(318)%20737-0437>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Mackay,William [mailto:wmackay at utep.edu <wmackay at utep.edu>]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 29, 2017 1:42 PM
> *To:* Eric Pani <pani at ulm.edu>
> *Cc:* Cutler, Scott <scutler at utep.edu>; Greenbaum, Eli B <
> egreenbaum2 at utep.edu>; Harris, Arthur <aharris at utep.edu>; Johnson, Jerry <
> jjohnson at utep.edu>; Lavretsky, Philip <plavretsky at utep.edu>; Lieb, Carl <
> clieb at utep.edu>; Moody, Michael L <mlmoody at utep.edu>; Peterson, Markus J <
> mjpeterson at utep.edu>; Walsh, Elizabeth <ewalsh at utep.edu>; Worthington,
> Richard D. <rworthin at utep.edu>; Mayfield, Teresa <tmayfield at utep.edu>
> *Subject:* Museum collections
>
>
>
> Dear Dr. Pani,
>
>
>
> I have just found out that University of Louisiana at Monroe Museum of
> Natural History Museum is going to be liquidated.
>
>
>
> I am a professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas, El
> Paso, as well as the Curator of Insects, where we are very active in
> expanding our Biodiversity Collections. We have been very successful in
> obtaining funds to support our collection. We are all actively publishing,
> including our graduate and undergraduate students, based on specimens in
> our collections. Collections are of tremendous importance in documenting
>  trends in biodiversity and in understanding the phylogeny of all groups of
> organisms.
>
>
>
> I urge you to find some other alternative in order to protect this
> indispensable and irreplaceable resource, which is so important in
> providing baseline data for studies that are being done and those that will
> take place in the future.
>
>
>
> William Mackay, Professor
>
> University of Texas at El Paso
>
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