<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Hi all,<div><br></div><div>Like many of the rest of your collections, NHMLA and La Brea Tar Pits are now closed to visitors--we have canceled research visits and tours through April 10, and will assess the possibility of re-opening as the situation changes. The museums are also closed to the public as of this afternoon. We currently hope to keep collections operations going, just without outside access, but of course that depends on staff availability and institutional decisions about who should be at work. </div><div><br></div><div>Much harder, it turns out, has been how to accommodate collections staff as the institution moves somewhat rapidly to a much heavier reliance on telecommuting. I can't say we were very well prepared for this. Three suggestions for those of you who have not yet reached this point, should you choose to learn from my mistakes:</div><div><br></div><div>1) Decide whether you're prepared to let staff take collection items home to work on, and under what conditions and with what limitations. Write that policy and get it approved now. Talk to your insurer if your collection is insured, because they and your underwriters may need to be in on this conversation. </div><div>2) Start scanning. I bet you're all sitting on as many piles of documents and data that you've been wanting to transcribe/digitize some day as we are. If you have staff who are forced to self-quarantine or work from home, you may want digital projects ready to go. </div><div>3) If you need additional IT support, VPNs, software licenses, training, etc for collection staff to access databases or files from home, and for all of them to want to do this *simultaneously*, start getting that into place. </div><div><br></div><div>Good luck and stay healthy, everyone!</div><div><br></div><div>--Trina</div><div><br></div><div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">--</div><div dir="ltr">Trina E. Roberts, Ph.D.<div>Associate VP, Collections</div><div>Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County</div><div>213-763-3330<br></div><div><a href="mailto:troberts@nhm.org" target="_blank">troberts@nhm.org</a></div><div>she, her, hers</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 6:29 AM Richard Rabeler <<a href="mailto:rabeler@umich.edu">rabeler@umich.edu</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Colleagues:<div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">We are actively discussing plans for our research museum collections at the University of Michigan Research Museums Center over the next month or so, especially as it relates to students, volunteers, and visitors. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">While I have seen comments on AAMG-L about how people associated with public galleries are being impacted, I don't recall seeing the same from the collections community. I suspect some of you, esp. in university collections, have been faced with class cancellations and restrictions on travel and possibly visitors and you are likely having similar conversations. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Out of curiosity, how are you planning to handle activities in your collections?<div><br></div><div>Sincerely,</div><div><br></div><div>Rich Rabeler, </div><div>Senior Collection Manager</div><div>University of Michigan Herbarium</div><div><br></div><div></div></div>
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