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<div>Some years ago, I was involved with a large collection of mites that was deposited in an (unnamed) Museum in the USA. Many of the slides had only host numbers on them, so the museum wanted to have the specimens properly labeled before loaning them to me
(they had most of the data available). They hired two people with no training or experience (off the street, as we say) at the lowest salary. They were trained and allowed to take boxes of slides and labels home with them. After some time, the museum staff
was unable to make contact with one of the individuals. Later, I believe, they were finally able to repossess the specimens, many still unlabeled. At that time, they decided to make the loan to me and allow me to prepare and properly label the specimens.</div>
<div>I would not be in favor of outsourcing even this simple step in specimen preparation.</div>
<div>All the best! - Barry</div>
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<font face="Calibri,Verdana,Helvetica,Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">-So many mites, so little time!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">Barry M. OConnor phone: 734-763-4354</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">Curator & Professor fax: 734-763-4080</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">Museum of Zoology e-mail:
</span></font><a href="bmoc@umich.edu"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">bmoc@umich.edu</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br>
University of Michigan<br>
1109 Geddes Ave<br>
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079 </span></font><br>
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<span style="font-weight:bold">From: </span><Desjardins>, "R.B." <<a href="mailto:Becky.Desjardins@ncbnaturalis.nl">Becky.Desjardins@ncbnaturalis.nl</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Date: </span>Thursday, June 7, 2012 8:00 AM<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">To: </span>"<a href="mailto:nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu">nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu</a>" <<a href="mailto:nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu">nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: </span>[Nhcoll-l] outsourcing specimen prep<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Hello all;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Upper management at my institute would like to being outsourcing all specimen preparation: study skins of vertebrates, spirits for herps and fish, paleo and geo, inverts, everything (except plants, maybe) to save money.
I was curious if any other institutes has done this or has experience with anything like this? Personally, I think it is a bad idea (and it seems most folks here agree) but I would love to know if anyone is trying this.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Thanks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Becky Desjardins<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">NCB Naturalis<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Leiden, Netherlands<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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