<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div style="" class=""><br style=""></div><div style="" class=""><span style="" class="">How utterly depressing.</span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br style="" class=""><span style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="" class="">I
am an older adult undergrad student and I volunteer for a small natural
history collection. My experience has been that there is a huge
disconnect between my university and our collection. If the biology
department of my school is not aware of/encourages the use of our
collection, how will the importance of collections be maintained?<br style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br style="" class=""><span style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="" class=""><span style="" class=""> I have not had ONE professor even mention our collection as a resource for students on their own.</span> It took a few years but I FINALLY got my herpetology class to at least come visit our collection. We don't learn any curatorial skills in our labs. I wish there was a 'museum 101' class...or something to that
effect.</span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br style="" class=""><span style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="" class="">It's also hard, I imagine, to have advocacy when you have budget shortfalls and an already overwhelmed staff. And if the interest of my fellow students is any indication of the future of natural history collections, well, we are doomed.<br style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica
Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br style="" class=""><span style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="" class="">I wish I had some answers. As a volunteer I do everything I can to engage the public and try and come up with interesting displays for public events. I am really hoping others will contribute their ideas to this thread as to what they do to advocate their collections/research.<br style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br style="" class=""><span
style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br style="" class=""><span style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="" class="">thanks,</span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="" class="">Jeanette Girosky<br style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family:
HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br style="" class=""><span style="" class=""></span></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light,Helvetica Neue Light,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span style="" class=""><br style="" class=""></span></div> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div style="display: block;" class="yahoo_quoted"> <div class="" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div class="" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div style="" class="" dir="ltr"> <font style="" class="" face="Arial" size="2"> On Wednesday,
October 29, 2014 1:41 PM, "Bentley, Andrew Charles" <abentley@ku.edu> wrote:<br style="" class=""> </font> </div> <br style="" class=""><br style="" class=""> <div style="" class=""><div style="" class="" id="yiv1959743943">
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<div style="" class="">
<div class="" style="direction:ltr;font-family:Tahoma;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;">Randy
<div style="" class=""><br style="" class="">
</div>
<div style="" class="">I think that shift has already happened. I spend an inordinate amount of my time advocating for my collection, KU collections and collections in general and it has become an integral part of what I do. I think we all need to advocates - not only for
our own collections and collections in general but for our profession. The profession has changed profoundly over the last 10-15 years but all too often we are still seen as glorified bottle "shufflers". Part of this is due to the fact that we have not done
a good enough job advocating for our profession as a group. Just like collections and their data can no longer be seen as silos that can be managed as you see fit, our profession is the same. We need to advocate not only for our position within our institution
but for the profession as a whole on a wider scale. SPNHC, together with NSCA and AIBS (and more recently iDigBio) are a great facilitator and conduit for that kind of advocacy and I can see change happening.</div>
<div style="" class=""><br style="" class="">
</div>
<div style="" class="">Andy<br style="" class="">
<div style="" class=""><br style="" class="">
<div class="" style="font-family:Tahoma;font-size:13px;"><font style="" class="" face="Calibri" size="3"> A : A : A :<br style="" class="">
}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°><br style="" class="">
V V V<br style="" class="">
Andy Bentley<br style="" class="">
Ichthyology Collection Manager/Specify Usability Lead<br style="" class="">
University of Kansas<br style="" class="">
Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research Center<br style="" class="">
Dyche Hall<br style="" class="">
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard<br style="" class="">
Lawrence, KS, 66045-7593<br style="" class="">
USA<br style="" class="">
<br style="" class="">
Tel: (785) 864-3863<br style="" class="">
Fax: (785) 864-5335<br style="" class="">
Email: </font><a style="" class="" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://ABentley@ku.edu/"><font style="" class="" face="Calibri" size="3">ABentley@ku.edu</font></a><font style="" class="" face="Calibri" size="3"> <br style="" class="">
<br style="" class="">
A : A : A :<br style="" class="">
}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°><br style="" class="">
V V V</font></div>
</div>
<div class="" style="font-family:Times New Roman;color:#000000;font-size:16px;">
<hr style="" class="" tabindex="-1">
<div class="" id="yiv1959743943divRpF40837" style="direction:ltr;"><font style="" class="" face="Tahoma" size="2" color="#000000"><b style="" class="">From:</b> Singer, Randal [randal.a.singer@ua.edu]<br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">Sent:</b> Wednesday, October 29, 2014 12:24 PM<br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">To:</b> Bentley, Andrew Charles; nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu<br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">Subject:</b> RE: "erosion of collections-based science" article<br style="" class="">
</font><br style="" class="">
</div>
<div style="" class=""></div>
<div style="" class="">
<div style="" class="">
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#141823;background:#F6F7F8;">I think as CMs, our focus will shift from research and facilitating research to being more of outreach conduits. Which isn't necessarily
bad....but the times they are a changin'.</span><span class="" style="color:#1F497D;"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="color:#1F497D;"> </span></div>
<div style="" class="">
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="color:#1F497D;"><img style="" class="" id="yiv1959743943Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:1.681054432@web122904.mail.ne1.yahoo.com" alt="RAS Signature" height="253" width="485"></span><span class="" style="color:#1F497D;"></span></div>
</div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="color:#1F497D;"> </span></div>
<div style="" class="">
<div class="" style="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in;">
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;">From:</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;"> nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu]
<b style="" class="">On Behalf Of </b>Bentley, Andrew Charles<br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">Sent:</b> Wednesday, October 29, 2014 12:18 PM<br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">To:</b> nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu<br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">Subject:</b> [Nhcoll-l] FW: "erosion of collections-based science" article</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="" class=""> </div>
<div style="" class="">
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB">Thought this might be of interest to NHCOLLers. Once again, there are some interesting threads
that come from NatSCA that may be of interest. Please consider signing up for this list. I will continue to forward items of interest though...
</span></div>
<div style="" class="">
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
</div>
<div style="" class="">
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB">Andy</span></div>
<div style="" class="">
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="" class="">
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB"> A : A : A :<br style="" class="">
}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°><br style="" class="">
V V V<br style="" class="">
Andy Bentley<br style="" class="">
Ichthyology Collection Manager/Specify Usability Lead<br style="" class="">
University of Kansas<br style="" class="">
Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research Center<br style="" class="">
Dyche Hall<br style="" class="">
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard<br style="" class="">
Lawrence, KS, 66045-7593<br style="" class="">
USA<br style="" class="">
<br style="" class="">
Tel: (785) 864-3863<br style="" class="">
Fax: (785) 864-5335<br style="" class="">
Email: </span><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB"><a style="" class="" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://ABentley@ku.edu/"><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;">ABentley@ku.edu</span></a></span><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB">
<br style="" class="">
<br style="" class="">
A : A : A :<br style="" class="">
}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°><br style="" class="">
V V V</span><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="" class="">
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;" align="center">
<span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB">
<hr style="" class="" size="2" width="100%" align="center">
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<div style="" class="" id="yiv1959743943divRpF849243">
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;"><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB">From:</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB"> The
Natural Science Collections Association discussion list [NATSCA@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] on behalf of Henry Mcghie [henry.mcghie@MANCHESTER.AC.UK]<br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">Sent:</b> Wednesday, October 29, 2014 11:04 AM<br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">To:</b> <a style="" class="" rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:NATSCA@JISCMAIL.AC.UK" target="_blank" href="mailto:NATSCA@JISCMAIL.AC.UK">NATSCA@JISCMAIL.AC.UK</a><br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">Subject:</b> FW: "erosion of collections-based science" article</span><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
</div>
<div style="" class="">
<div style="" class="">
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="color:#1F497D;" lang="EN-GB">Hello- this is maybe of interest, especially to those of you involved in advocacy.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="color:#1F497D;" lang="EN-GB">Best wishes,</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="color:#1F497D;" lang="EN-GB">Henry</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="color:#1F497D;" lang="EN-GB"> </span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class="">
<div class="" style="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in;">
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;">From:</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black;"> Bulletin
Board for Bird Collections and Curators [<a style="" class="" rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:AVECOL-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU" target="_blank" href="mailto:AVECOL-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU">mailto:AVECOL-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU</a>]
<b style="" class="">On Behalf Of </b>Capparella, Angelo<br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">Sent:</b> 29 October 2014 16:03<br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">To:</b> <a style="" class="" rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:AVECOL-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU" target="_blank" href="mailto:AVECOL-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU">AVECOL-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU</a><br style="" class="">
<b style="" class="">Subject:</b> [AVECOL-L] "erosion of collections-based science" article</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="color:black;">Our recently retired, not likely to be replaced, herbarium curator at Illinois State University sent me this interesting article below (minus images and hyperlinks
to prevent post rejection). As others have retired from ISU, I have absorbed as Curator first the Birds, then the Mammals, then the Herps, and finally the Fish. Upon the recent retirement of the Insect Curator, I volunteered to oversee the Insects until a
decision is made as to what to do with them. Of course, being Curator is an add-on duty here. Fortunately, our retired herbarium director is going to continue as an active emeritus for awhile. Another interesting incident this semester occurred when a M.S.
student from the University of Illinois came to use our bird collection for his spectrograph project because the collection at his institution is “currently inaccessible”. Where will it end?</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="color:black;"> </span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="color:black;">Angelo Capparella</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="color:black;"> </span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:13.5pt;color:black;">The Erosion of Collections-Based Science: Alarming Trend or Coincidence?</span></b><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">From
</span><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">Plant Press, Vol. 17, No. 4</span></u><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">, October 2014.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">A Curator’s Perspective</span></i></b><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"><br style="" class="">
<i style="" class="">By Vicki A. Funk*</i></span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">Over the last few years many visitors have passed through the doors of the
</span><b style="" class=""><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">U.S. National Herbarium</span></u></b><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"> (Herbarium Code: US)</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">
bringing depressing news about some of our fellow botanical institutions and research centers. Institutions, which house historic and otherwise important botanical specimens, have been closed. The scientists who study, preserve, and curate them, have been
fired, downsized, forced into retirement, or had their focus directed away from taxonomy and systematics. When reasons are given they usually involve budget shortfalls; unfortunately, collections and research are easy targets. But when I mentioned this to
one former museum director who was visiting, his reply was, “When I was a director and had a budget shortfall I went out and raised more money, I did not fire my staff!”</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">Is this a trend or a coincidence? Perhaps a more detailed examination of events will provide an answer and so we begin with the Milwaukee Public Museum and
continue up to the ongoing recent troubles at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">In 2005
</span><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">Milwaukee Public Museum</span></u></i></b><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"> (MIL; established in 1882; 250,000
specimens)</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"> eliminated science and fired most of its staff. If you check the museum’s website it seems they no longer have much of a science presence, just a few collections
managers, emeritus curators and adjunct curators who have jobs elsewhere. At the time, most of us thought this was a unique event. How could an institution with 4.5 million objects and specimens, spread over a broad array of departments go out of the research
business? How did they think they would keep their collections, exhibits and education programs up to date? But in the nearly 10 years since that event, additional examples of this type of nearsighted administrative behavior has become more frequent as research
program after research program has taken the brunt of budget shortfalls; we have become increasingly more alarmed.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden</span></u></i></b><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">
</span></i></b><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">(FTG; established in 1936; 165,000 specimens).</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"><br style="" class="">
Fairchild has long been active in systematic research. The board and administration decided to move to a different model where they would no longer pay the salaries of research staff but rather have Florida International University faculty work out of Fairchild.
They currently have only one research scientist working there. Over a period from 2007 to 2009, the emphasis for research seems to have shifted from tropical systematics to ecology and conservation. In fact, you cannot even find the herbarium on the Fairchild
website. If you search for it on Google all you can find is the </span><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">FTG Virtual Herbarium</span></u><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">
which contains only about half the collections.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">New York State Museum, Albany</span></u></i></b><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">
</span></i></b><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">(NYS; established in 1836; 279,000 specimens).</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"><br style="" class="">
Most of the research staff was let go a few years ago, including all of the botanists. According to the staff directory, there are four curators, all zoologists, one of which appears to be a state employee. They do have collection managers listed for most collections,
including botany, but the herbarium does not appear to have an active research program.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">Brooklyn Botanical Garden</span></u></i></b><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">
</span></i></b><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">(BKL; established in 1910; 300,000 specimens).</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"><br style="" class="">
In August 2013, Brooklyn Botanic Garden suspended its research program and shuttered its herbarium. All members of the Garden’s Science Department were laid off, except for one herbarium assistant who was transferred elsewhere and a part-time plant mounter.
The Science Department’s director was on sabbatical at NSF and she has since left the Garden for a position elsewhere. The Director of Living Collections was made the Director of Collections with the additional responsibility of managing the herbarium. The
staff laid off had 60 years of combined experience with BKL. Currently no scientific research is being conducted at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The herbarium, once widely used by scientists especially those doing research in New York City and Long Island, remains
essentially inaccessible to the public.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad</span></u></i></b><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"> (INBio)
(INB; established in 1989; 183,000 specimens).</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"><br style="" class="">
In 2011 INBIO announced that it was going out of the collections and research business. The herbarium was rapidly moved into another building because the building built specifically for the herbarium, had been sold. Recently, the entire staff was let go. This
important collection is completely databased and available on line and together with the herbarium at the
</span><span class="" style="color:black;"><a style="" class="" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.museocostarica.go.cr/herbario/"><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;">Museo Nacional de Costa Rica</span></a></span><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">
(CR; 215,000 specimens) they make Costa Rica the best botanically documented country between Mexico City and Bogota. Fortunately, the Museo has agreed to take charge of the herbarium; although, currently, they do not have the space to incorporate the specimens.
So far, there is no guarantee that there will be jobs for the staff. Hopefully, there will be a new building constructed so that both collections can be combined and additional trained staff will be hired to manage it.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">Field Museum of Natural History</span></u></i></b><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"> (F; established
in 1893; 2,700,000 specimens).</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"><br style="" class="">
Staffing for research and collections at the Field Museum had been on the decline for years. Beginning in 2009, between buyouts and staff leaving for other jobs, science staffing took a steep turn downward. Currently, there are only two curators in Botany and
three support staff to study and manage the enormous resource. Fortunately there are three emeriti that continue to work. There are no science departments, just one “Action Science Center.” The collections are well maintained because of the dedication of collections
staff but there is no real growth. However, the emphasis seems to be on marketable skills and plant taxonomy does not seem to be on the list. There is no announced plan to hire additional staff.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">California Academy of Sciences</span></u></i></b><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"> (CAS; established
in 1853; 2,000,000 specimens).</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"><br style="" class="">
Recently the administration of CAS has decided to shift the focus of the museum. Established scientists were pressured into retiring, new people will be hired but they will have a significant focus on outreach using social media. Oddly this comes after the
construction of a new building to house the collections.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><b style="" class=""><i style="" class=""><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew</span></u></i></b><b style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"> (K; established
in 1759; became a government institution in 1841; 7,000,000 specimens with well over 350,000 types).</span></b><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"><br style="" class="">
For months rumors have been in circulation about the drastic changes that are taking place at Kew. Finally enough people have visited and others have passed through US, that we are getting a better picture of what is happening. Kew, long a premier botanical
institution for research and collections, is under serious attack. Reports indicate that the Herbarium, Jodrell Laboratory, and Millennium Seed Bank are to undergo drastic administrative changes and a significant reduction in science staff. The major structural
change is that these three administrative units will be replaced by six focal areas: Collections, Identification and Naming, Comparative Plant and Fungal Biology, Conservation, Natural Capital, and Biodiversity Informatics. Nine people have been appointed
to guaranteed new positions. Everyone else is being forced to apply for open new positions that are made available.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">When this crisis at Kew started 25 people decided to retire and those positions were lost altogether. That left 200 staff members in the three units. The
scientific staff is scheduled to be reduced from 200 to 176 which makes it seem as if only 24 positions will be lost. However this number is misleading—the 176 positions include 12 new positions in Biodiversity Informatics, at least some of which may need
to be hired from outside Kew, which would further reduce the number of current Kew staff to be retained. Also, the new positions include 27 ‘Career Development Fellows,’ which are fixed non-renewable term (3-5 years) appointments designed to develop researchers
from current Kew staff. These staff members are then apparently expected to seek research positions at Kew, attract independent funding, or simply become redundant and have to leave Kew.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">Except for the heads of the new focal areas and a limited number of new slots that are very close to existing ones, everyone else will have to apply for
one or more of the positions that have been created in the new structure. Any new positions that are not filled by current Kew staff will be opened to a wider pool of applicants. It appears then that at a minimum, 24 current Kew staff members in science will
lose their jobs by December 1 but reason suggests that the number could be significantly higher. Taking all of this into account, the total loss of permanent jobs in science at Kew will probably be at least 50 or 25 percent of the current permanent science
positions. However, if you include the 25 that took retirement the loss of science positions would be 34 percent.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">Equally disturbing is the division of the remaining herbarium staff into three areas: Americas, Africa, and Asia. Systematic groups such as the “Legumes”
will no longer exist and the leaders and staff of these groups will have to compete for jobs with everyone else. What is striking about this is that most of the world (including Kew scientists) has been moving to synthetic work with a global focus and yet
the administration at Kew is choosing to balkanize their research into areas. It is amazing that
</span><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle</span></u><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"> in Paris (P) has just worked hard
to break down such barriers while Kew is building them. It makes it difficult for specialists in a particular family to view a plant group from a global perspective. Will we no longer have “world experts” at Kew?</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">In addition, the loss of support staff at Kew will be great and that will mean that curators will have to spend more time doing technical work and less time
on science. Those scientists that are able to obtain one of the herbarium positions may very well find themselves overwhelmed with collections work as well as mentoring and teaching and as a result have very little time to do research. Certainly Kew has a
budget shortfall but when you balance the budget by gutting research and collections staff you fail to recognize that expertise in a group of plants is built up over many years and cannot be replicated once it is lost.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">Biological specimens are critical for the next frontiers of climate change studies: they provide the evidence of past as well as present distributions. A
deeper understanding of life on Earth in the past can help us predict and possibly mitigate the worst impacts of climate change in the future. Such information is not readily available but it is becoming more so. For some collections it is now possible to
view their data and images online and this allows us to use advanced modeling techniques to predict which species may survive and which may go extinct.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">Images alone are not enough. Names of organisms change frequently and these proposed changes need to be evaluated and either accepted or rejected. More importantly,
a specimen is only useful if it has a proper identification. Many specimens are misidentified. Insuring that something is correctly identified requires a detailed examination of the actual specimen, usually under a microscope. As a result, all collections
require constant curation to make them useful for climate change studies and other biodiversity studies. Collections that are not studied and maintained, even if they are physically well cared for, can become out-of-date and less useful.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">The utility of collections does not stop with climate change. If you search for “Biological Collections” in
</span><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">Google Scholar</span></u><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">, you will find a host of references on the use of such specimens
ranging from phenological data to populations trends, utility of vouchers, DNA based phylogenies, biodiversity estimates, and trait evolution.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">Lastly, the actions of these gardens and museums fail to take into account that to be relevant and useful collections must continue to grow as new discoveries
are made. Expeditions to poorly understood areas are critical for filling in holes in our data and for collecting new material in ways that allow the preservation of genome quality tissue for new methods of investigation. It seems that just when the world
is beating a path to our door and asking for help and collaboration we are closing our doors and turning them away.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;">Here at the Smithsonian Institution we are not immune. Since I was hired in 1981, our
</span><u style="" class=""><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:blue;">scientific staff</span></u><span class="" style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"> has shrunk by about 50 percent and our collections staff
even more. The Botany staff at the Smithsonian is concerned about our colleagues and the collections they study, at Kew and around the world. It is troubling that there seems to be an alarming trend in museum and garden administrations to devalue collections
and the staff who study and care for them. This is a critical point in time to work toward a world-wide effort to stop and reverse this attrition.</span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div style="" class=""><span class="" style="color:black;"> </span><span class="" style="color:black;" lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
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