[NHCOLL-L:1487] Fee for storage of museum specimens

[Alexandra M. Snyder]

It is not possible to for a museum to charge a researcher "forever" to take 
care of their collections, rather it is the mandate of the museum to take 
care of collections forever.  However, charging the researcher for supplies 
and labor to accession these collections is not at all unusual nor 
unreasonable.   Our fish collection receives funds from various researchers 
to completely accession the specimens they bring us.  We use these funds 
for EtOH, glassware and closures, labeling material, student assistance, 
and so forth.  To arrive at a figure, I came up with a cost per jar of 
specimens (average number per jar is normally 50 fish) in terms of labor 
and materials.  As with insect collections, fish collections are labor 
intensive.  EtOH is not cheap...and because we are out in the boonies, 
glassware orders can be costly because of shipping.   So, when you sit and 
think about what it takes to curate incoming collections, make note of 
everything (even overhead or indirect costs) as part of the cost.  This is 
not to inflate the cost to the researcher but to get a real figures.  I 
think my figure per jar ended up being between $5 and $10 to 
curate/accession depending on whether I provided field supplies to the 
researcher or not (field book sheets, pens, formalin, etc.)

And don't be suprised if your donors get "sticker shock" when you give them 
a figure.  Very few people realize how much quality materials cost.  I 
remind them  that it took a lot of money and time to collect those 
specimens...and in many cases more money was spent to collect than to 
archive.

>>> beetledude at HOTMAIL.COM 4:08:25 PM Friday, February 15, 2002 >>>
Dear collection managers/curators,

I was wondering if there is an "industry standard" when it comes to charging
for storage of voucher/reference collections...?  We (at Eastern New Mexico
University) have been approached by an individual involved with a
large-scale, federally funded ecological study of aquatic inverts.  There
is, thankfully, some $$ in their budget set aside for providing care for the
specimens that will form the basis for the study, i.e. the vouchers.  This
person would like to know how much our museum will charge to house and care
for the collection in perpetuity.  Is there a standard, "per specimen" fee
that other museums or collections have charged for this service...?

If anyone can offer any advice, or URLs that might lead me closer to the
answer, that would be great!


cheers.....................................................Darren


Dr. Darren A. Pollock,
Assistant Professor,
Acting Curator of Invertebrates
Department of Biology,
Eastern New Mexico University,
Portales, NM 88130

Phone: (505) 562-2862
fax:   (505) 562-2192
email: darren.pollock at enmu.edu

**Have you borrowed specimens from the ENMU Nat. Hist. Museum today?**






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================================
Alexandra M. Snyder, Collection Manager
Division of Fishes
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131 USA
Ph 505.277.6005  Fax 505.277.3218
amsnyder at unm.edu