[NHCOLL-L:3711] NSCA-NSF Collections Survey
Marcy Revelez
mrevelez at ou.edu
Thu Jan 17 16:34:25 EST 2008
Please pass along to anyone who might be interested. Deadline for
participation is February 10, 2008.
Thanks,
Marcy
From: NSCA Secretariat <NSCA at burkinc.com>
Date: January 17, 2008 2:43:49 PM CST
To: "Umn.edu" <mamares at ou.edu>
Subject: NSCA - NSF Collections Survey Participation
Reply-To: NSCA at burkinc.com
Dear NSC Alliance Members and Colleagues:
As you may be aware, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has been
working to develop a national survey to gather data about our
nation's object-based scientific collections. The critical need for
this survey was identified in 2005 in a research and development
policy memorandum issued by the federal Office of Science and
Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget. This
memorandum recognized that our scientific collections are centrally
important components of our research infrastructure. Furthermore, it
recognized the need for better data about the status, trends and
needs of these collections. To inform future planning, a federal
interagency working group was established with NSF as one of the
participating agencies.
Federal rules prohibited NSF from issuing the survey to a broader
audience beyond former grantees. However, we believe that this is an
important and unique opportunity for the entire collections community
to obtain comprehensive data that will help all of our institutions
advance our missions and work to secure increased facilities and
research funding in the future. Thus, I write to encourage you to
ensure that you and your institution participate in this survey (see
additional information below). Also, if you learn that your
institution was not selected to receive this survey, please contact
the NSF program officials identified below immediately to obtain the
information required to complete this survey.
Because we think this survey is so important to the future of the
collections community, the NSC Alliance is offering a free one-year
Guest Membership (non-voting) to individuals and collections that
participate in the survey and have not previously been members of the
Alliance. The NSC Alliance is the major national organization
representing collections-based museums and the major lobbying
organization for collection-related legislation and other matters
affecting natural science collections. Please forward this email to
all curators, collection managers, directors, and museums holding
natural science collections of whatever size and scope. NSCA hopes to
unite the American collections community to increase communication
among collection professionals and to better articulate the needs of
the U.S. collections community.
After filling out the survey, please send an e-mail message to David
Drupa, NSC Alliance Secretariat, at collectionssurvey at gmail.com
indicating that your institution has completed the survey and wishes
to accept the offer of free membership in the NSC Alliance. Include
in the e-mail the name of your collection, a contact person and
contact information.
Following are general guidance materials we have received. These
materials provide additional background information and describe the
scope and procedures for this survey.
Thank you for your participation in this important endeavor.
Michael A. Mares, Ph.D.
President, NSC Alliance
Supplemental information about the NSF survey:
Dear Colleagues,
The National Science Foundation is conducting a survey of scientific
collections that have received support from the Foundation through
its various programs. You may have received an email request to
participate in the survey if your institution and collection were
recipients of such support. The survey is part of an effort directed
by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to
document the status of federally owned and supported collections in
the United States (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2006/
m06-17.pdf ). The survey will supply OSTP with essential information
and help provide the information needed to support the nation's
research capacity.
Two types of surveys are being distributed. One is to administrators,
such as Vice Presidents of Research or similar officials; and one to
Collection Managers or Curators. They are similar, and if you are a
manager or curator, your administration will no doubt ask you for
help with some of the questions. The reason there are two types is so
that administrators can answer questions more broadly to include all
the collections at their institutions, regardless of whether some may
not have been the direct recipients of support. This will provide a
much broader overview than we could achieve by surveying individual
collections.
The survey is not designed to be burdensome--really! It should take
an hour or less to complete and can be filled out online. If you have
questions about the mechanics or nature of the survey, please ask us
via email ( collsurv at nsf.gov ).
If you have not received a survey request (they went out on January
15, 2008 or earlier) and think you should, please contact us. Thank
you very much for your contribution to this effort to strengthen
scientific collections.
Sincerely,
Dr. Judy Skog, Director, Division of Biological Infrastructure
Dr. Richard McCourt, Program Director, Division of Biological
Infrastructure
Ms. Jessica Corman, Science Assistant
National Science Foundation
collsurv at nsf.gov
---
COLLECTIONS MANAGER SURVEY
INSTRUCTIONS
This survey collects information about major object-based scientific
collections maintained by your organization. One "Collections Manager
Survey" should be completed for each major collection in your
organization. Each survey should be completed by the individual with
responsibility over that major collection. To the degree possible,
information on collections of a single type should be aggregated into
a single response (e.g., marine worms, arthropods, echinoderms,
corals should be reported together under Invertebrate Zoology).
Traditional collections should be separated into the following major
categories:
1. Anthropology
2. Archaeology
3. Botany
4. Entomology
5. Ethnography
6. Geology and Mineralogy
7. Herpetology
8. Ichthyology
9. Invertebrate Paleontology
10. Invertebrate Zoology (Apart from Entomology)
11. Living Cell/Organismal Lines
12. Mammalogy
13. Microbiology
14. Ornithology
15. Paleobotany
16. Physical Anthropology
17. Vertebrate Paleontology
18. Other, please specify _________________
COLLECTIONS INCLUDED IN THIS SURVEY
This survey is being distributed to institutions supporting object-
based scientific collections that have received Federal funding from
the National Science Foundation.
"Object-based scientific collections" are defined as collections
primarily acquired, maintained and used for scientific research, such
as natural and physical science specimens, living animals and plants,
archaeological and ethnographic objects, or technological objects of
current or contemporary design.
"Ancillary collections" include important materials that are
associated with an object-based scientific collection, but only if
the material is directly used for scientific research, such as
archival and library materials, audio and visual media, and data that
might reside in databases.
COLLECTIONS EXCLUDED FROM THIS SURVEY
Historic and artistic collections that do not function as scientific
collections are excluded from the survey. For example, a collection
of wreckage from an aircraft accident would fall outside the scope of
the survey if it were part of a current investigation, maintained for
historical purposes only, or otherwise closed to access. However,
this same collection would be within the scope of the survey if it
were being maintained for the use of researchers who are researching
metal fatigue, fire dynamics, failure propagation, or other related
phenomena.
Library collections are also excluded unless the collection is in
support of the research objects themselves.
Collections of data (both analog and digital) or databases containing
such data are excluded from this survey unless those data collections
are associated with an object-based scientific collection and are
used directly to support the conduct of scientific research, in which
case they may be treated as ancillary collections. (See "Ancillary
collections" definition above).
STRUCTURE OF THE SURVEY
The survey is divided into 10 sections:
Organizational Information
Collection Characteristics
Staffing
Funding
Facilities
Ancillary Materials
Uses and Users
Accessibility of the Collections
Intellectual Property Rights
Analytic Instrumentation
INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE ONLINE VERSION
· Sometimes you will see an instruction to Check all that apply; this
means to check all of the answers that are right for you. Otherwise,
you will see Check only one answer; this means you should check only
one answer -- the one that is best or most important to you.
· Due to the nature of an on-line survey, you will not be able to
browse through the entire questionnaire before answering any
questions. Each page may have more than one question/item. Please
make sure you answer every question/item on each page and then click
on the "Next" button to save your answers and move to the next
questions. If you need to go back to previous pages to review or
change your answer, you may do so by clicking the "Back" button at
the bottom of each page. Do not use any of your web browser buttons
to move around in the questionnaire. Use only the navigation buttons
at the bottom of each page.
· You will always have the option of stopping or pausing your survey
by clicking on the box at the bottom of the screen labeled "Pause/
Stop." Once you have paused the survey, you are free to close the
window -- all of your answers to that point will be saved. When you
are ready to resume the survey, return to the original Web link
contained in your e-mail invitation and re-enter your password. The
survey will open where you left it and you may continue.
· The survey will automatically close after 15 minutes of sitting
idle. Please go back to the Web link provided in your email and enter
your password. If you are still denied access please wait 10 minutes
and try again.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this survey, please contact Dr.
Richard McCourt at collsurv at nsf.gov, telephone number 703-292-8470.
DEADLINE
In order for us to include your response with those of all other
participating organizations, we ask that you complete this survey no
later than February 10, 2008.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Marcia A. Revelez
Collection Manager
Department of Mammalogy
Division of Collections and Research
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
University of Oklahoma
2401 Chautauqua
Norman, OK 73072
Phone: 405-325-7988
Fax: 405-325-7699
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