[NHCOLL-L:3718] FW: NSCA - NSF Collections Survey Participation

Mon Jan 21 11:39:38 EST 2008

Daniel M. Brooks, Ph.D.
Curator of Vertebrate Zoology 

Cracid Specialist Group Chair

dbrooks at hmns.org      (713) 639-4776    Fax (713) 639-4767
theHoustonMuseumofnaturalscience
One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, TX  77030   

Biography: www.hmns.org/exhibits/curators.asp?r=1

Building the African Wildlife Hall:
www.drdantime.netfirms.com/index.html

Cracid Specialist Group: www.cracids.org <http://www.cracids.org/> 

________________________________

From: Mammalian Biology [mailto:MAMMAL-L at SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU] On Behalf
Of Michael Mares
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 3:17 PM
To: MAMMAL-L at SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU
Subject: Fwd: NSCA - NSF Collections Survey Participation

Please forward to curators, collection managers, and others involved in
collection development, care, management. Forwarding to fish, herp, bird
and other list serves would be good too.

Thanks.

Dr. Michael A. Mares

Presidential Professor, Research Curator, and Former Director

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

2401 Chautauqua

University of Oklahoma

Norman, OK  73072

phone: 405-325-9007

fax: 405-325-7699

Begin forwarded message:

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. 

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