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I want to add some information to consider.<br>
<br>
1. It is true that this is not regulatory but that does not mean
that there might be no consequences for failure to comply. It is
entirely conceivable that permits will not be renewed or issued. It
is entirely possible that pressure could be brought to bear on your
university leadership. I'm not saying it would happen in this case.
I'm just pointing out that it is not a fair inference that because
this is not regulatory, non-compliance will have no consequences. <br>
<br>
In fact, the Paperwork Reduction Act prohibits agencies from
imposing a penalty for failure or refusing a benefit to those who
fail to respond IF the information collection request does not have
a valid OMB control number. The reasonable implication is that the
agency may impose a penalty or refuse a benefit so long as the ICR
displays a valid OMB control number.<br>
<br>
2. It is true that the ICR won't change ownership status or resolve
the dispute. However - and I suggest consultation with your
institutions' legal counsel on this - submission of information
should be submitted with a clear statement that submission is not
acquiescence to the legal claim of ownership or factual ownership by
any government agency. I refer here to biological specimens only. <br>
<br>
3. While it is nice to think that if you have a dialogue with your
agency colleagues, there might be a better relationship that would
lead to additional resources from the agency:<br>
<br>
a) Recent history suggests that dialogue will not be fruitful.<br>
b) It is hard to imagine that agencies that are themselves being
starved and that are crumbling for lack of resources would be able
to provide any resources to you, except perhaps one or two
institutions on a very limited basis. I don't think they are in
doubt that you need more resources; I know that if they argued it to
their managers, and the managers believed it (as I suspect they
would), it would be a pointless discussion. There is no money to be
had. To think otherwise is to be blind to the political situation in
this country and the severe impact it has had on federal budgets,
not to mention the growing antipathy to anything scientific. <br>
<br>
4. So that everyone is clear without having to read all the
documentation, realize that this is what you (biological
collections) will need to do to comply:<br>
<br>
a) for every object collected prior to the issuance of permits
(~1980) review every accession record and catalog record to do a
first pass to determine what is definitely not a DOI object...this
assumes that these records have enough information about the
collection site to make an educated guess that the site was/was not
DOI-managed land (a term that is not defined in the notice)<br>
b) review the field notes for each object that might have been
collected on DOI-managed land to refine the educated guess<br>
c) for each item thought to be a DOI-object after these first two
screens, obtain information about the status and boundaries of the
site at the time of collection<br>
d) physically inspect each item that, after these three screens,
seems to be a DOI object<br>
e) compile the inventory<br>
f) compile accession records and catalog records<br>
Submit the inventory, accession records, and catalog records<br>
<br>
You can highlight the challenges you face without trying to comply
with this request. <br>
<br>
Ellen Paul<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2/28/15 2:48 PM, Norris, Christopher
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:6B08D03D1CB9F84E9F63146431A4E8F701053D68@X10-MBX10.yu.yale.edu"
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<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color:
#000000;font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI',
Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">I want to echo the comments
made by many others on the list regarding the need to read and
comment on Information Collection Request (ICR) entitled
"Documenting, Managing and Preserving DOI Museum </span><span
style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Property
Housed in Non-Federal Repositories." Comments on this are due
on 5 March. This is an important issue for the US collections
community. </span><br style="font-family: 'Segoe UI',
Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;">Before you do this, you should read the documents
- including the supporting materials - carefully and
understand why the information is needed and what you might be
asked by agency staff or their contractors if this request is
approved. There's still quite a lot of confusion in some
quarters. For example, this is an information request,
<u>not</u> a new regulation, or a law. It doesn't place any
legal obligations on you that you didn't have before, and
while there are real issues regarding ownership of certain
categories of specimen, this ICR will not change the situation
with regard to ownership.</span><br style="font-family: 'Segoe
UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;">
<font face="Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Most of the
comments published to date have focused on the negative
aspects of this information request in terms of increased
reporting burden... appropriately so. But you need to
understand exactly what that burden will be <u>for you</u>;
remember, you almost always have the opportunity to say that
you don't have, or cannot easily obtain the information. </font><span
style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;">You should also take some time to weigh the
burden against the ways in which your collections might
benefit from this exercise. Can it be used to highlight
problems or challenges that you face? Will it let you begin a
dialogue with your colleagues in the agencies about the need
for additional resources for curating the collections held at
your institution? Will it help them make a better argument to
their own management for these resources?</span>
<div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Something else that might not be clear from the documents
is that <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica,
sans-serif; font-size: small;">once an ICR is approved, it
must be reapproved by OMB every 3 years. That means that
everyone concerned can evaluate what has happened over the
intervening years and then comment on it when the ICR
reapproval is again published in the Federal Register. So
If the process turns out to be excessively burdensome in
practice, there's another opportunity to have it amended.</span></div>
<div><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
</font><span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica,
Arial, sans-serif;">Within SPNHC we've been taking time to
review the documentation and talking to our colleagues in
the agencies and other non-federal organizations. We''ll
be making a formal response later this week and I would
urge anyone with an interest in seeing these collections
better documented and managed to do the same.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;"><br>
</span></div>
<div>Chris</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>PS: if you haven't seen DOI's supporting documentation
for this request, here's how to access it:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"
size="2">Go to </font><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.reginfo.gov_public_do_PRAViewICR-3Fref-5Fnbr-3D201412-2D1084-2D001&d=AwMD-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=soGTb1rHMPJL0cymSttbYCI3gAUGe2sYalTqzTUmjpE&s=BSqxYyEs2jRN0nrRqwfhpi1tLEg7_bdRXF3EB33w6Xc&e=" target="_blank" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size:
10pt;">http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=201412-1084-001</a></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br>
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Once
there, click on the "View Information Collection (IC)
List" link to access the Checklist and other materials
and the "View Supporting Statement and Other Documents"
link to access the Supporting Statement (it's the first
item in the "ICR Documents" list on that next page).</span></div>
<br>
<div>
<div style="font-family:Tahoma; font-size:13px">
<div style="font-family:Tahoma; font-size:13px">
<div><font face="Tahoma" size="2">=============================</font></div>
<div><font face="Tahoma" size="1">Dr. Christopher A.
Norris</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma" size="1">Division of
Vertebrate Paleontology</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma" size="1">Yale Peabody Museum
of Natural History</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma" size="1">170 Whitney Ave.</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma" size="1">PO Box 208118</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma" size="1">New Haven, CT
06520-8118</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Tahoma" size="1">Past President<br>
Society for the Preservation of Natural History
Collections<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.spnhc.org_&d=AwMD-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=soGTb1rHMPJL0cymSttbYCI3gAUGe2sYalTqzTUmjpE&s=Qp_JfENy1Xal8UPOxbZ22pvQM8-aayDpjJNzjL1_mrQ&e=">www.spnhc.org</a></font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Tahoma" size="1">Tel.
+1(203)-432-3748</font></div>
<div><font face="tahoma" size="1">Fax.
+1(203)-432-9816</font></div>
</div>
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