[Nhcoll-l] Antw: reliable shelf labels

Mon May 3 19:14:04 EDT 2021

Great idea!
________________________________
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Cassidy, Kelly Michela <cassidyk at wsu.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 3, 2021 6:06 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [Nhcoll-l] Antw: reliable shelf labels

(I’m not sure from your question exactly what you’re looking for, so this suggestion might be totally off-base.)

Finding a way to put a label on our metal fluid collections shelves was something I puzzled over for a while before coming up with a solution that met our needs. I wanted to be able to easily replace the labels without having to remove a taped label and retape a new one and I wanted the labels to be big enough to be easy to read and include the scientific and common names of the species on the shelf.  Since we operate on a shoe string budget (well, maybe more like a dental floss budget), it had to be a cheap solution.

Eventually, I came up with the idea of using Ziploc quart-sized freezer baggies to make pouches to hold labels. I cut off the top of the baggie (the “zipper”), then about an inch off the top of the clear side (so one side is a little shorter than the other). I tape the longer, back side of the baggie to the back of the front edge of the shelf. I provided pictures so the description will make more sense.

The baggies are cheap and easy to replace if they get torn. I print the shelf labels on card stock (heavy paper) and cut them down to size. A quart baggie holds a 6” x 5.5” label that can be easily removed and replaced. As a bonus, we can “color-code” our shelf labels. The teaching collections shelves have blue shelf and jar labels.

Dr. Kelly M. Cassidy, Curator, Conner Museum

School of Biological Sciences

Box 644236

Washington State University

Pullman, WA 99164-4236

509-335-3515

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Joachim Händel
Sent: Saturday, May 1, 2021 1:50 AM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu; komura at nhm.org
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Antw: reliable shelf labels

Hi Kathy,
Maybe you can use classical Label Holders. You can screw them on or possibly also solder or weld it on.
But I think Barcodes are a concern, however. Of course they are convenient, but in 50...100 years they will no longer be known. The readers will no longer exist and the data will no longer be accessible.

All the best

Joachim

[cid:f836c626350e972ceea61d159d337d493fe7179271c85daa.mpf]

--

Joachim Haendel

Center of Natural SciencesCollections
of the Martin-Luther-University
- Entomological Collection -

Domplatz 4
D-06099 Halle (Saale)
Germany

Phone:  +49 345 - 55 26 447
Fax:  +49 345 - 55 27 248

Email: joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de<mailto:joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de>

>>> Kathy Omura <komura at nhm.org<mailto:komura at nhm.org>> 30.04.21 23.35 Uhr >>>

Hi Everyone,

Is anyone using barcodes, attached to collection room shelves to track physical locations of specimens. We are looking for a reliable shelf label that won't fall off the metal shelves. We have used magnetic and sticky labels for taxonomic names but was wondering what other people are using. What works and what doesn't for durability and time efficiency.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you, Kathy

--

Kathy Omura, Collection Manager
Marine Biodiversity Center
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
(213) 763-3386
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20210503/d287dd9d/attachment.html>