<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small">Some misdirection questions raised by Paul Callomon's original question and by many of the responses to it:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small"><br></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small">-- What is (are) the relationship(s) of "Collection Manager" --the job position-- to those who use collections?; to the institutions which support / sustain / provide buillt and logical infrastructure for the Collection being Managed?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small">-- Who are the advocates for why and how a (biological) Collection is to be operated (as a Goal, not simply in a day-to-day sense)?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small">-- Are any of those "related" folks necessarily the "Professional" leadership of those Collections?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small">-- Does a Collection Manager need to (deeply) understand the user, the institutional goals / objectives for the Collection, the lingo of the "Professional" leadership of those Collections, in order to properly "Manage" the Collection? If so, would that make the Collection Manager a "Professional" also?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small">Do we need to know / understand / appreciate the answers to these questions before we can adequately assess (or perhaps better, DEFINE) the professionalism (if any) required of a Collection Manager?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small">"Misdirection", I say partly in jest, but mostly because Paul's question and the responses to date seem to echo a similar identity (or mission?) crisis that was most recently reflected in the Duke University declaration to get rid of its botanical collection.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small">The systematic / taxonomic /biodiversity communities are challenged to defend their (own, and their supporting Collections) very existence --nothing new there but the recognition that it's a long-recurring theme (i.e., not just a "Duke" thing).</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small">All that said, I'd otherwise agree with Doug Yanega's original reply of <span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17.5px">Feb 23, 2024, 9:32 AM.</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small"><span style="font-family:"Google Sans",Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17.5px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:garamond,"times new roman",serif;font-size:small">Peter</div><br></div></div></div>