[NHCOLL-L:4858] RE: Museum Labels for Mammal Mounts
Dirk Neumann
Dirk.Neumann at zsm.mwn.de
Wed Jul 7 04:23:14 EDT 2010
Most museums surely embrace the manifold options which collection
databasing offers, including easy reproducibility of historic labels in
cases of loss, either as reprint of a scan of the original label to
preserve the information linked with the typeface of the label or as new
label printed from the collection database which holds only the
transcribed data of the original label.
The problem starts, and this issue was controversially discussed on the
SPNHC-Meeting in Leiden, where you have a completely digitalised
collections management, i.e. lots / specimens bearing only a number or
barcode (without any further collection data affixed - e.g. in most
tissue or DNA storage facilities in museums).
1. In case of server failure or database corruptions you will have
severe problems to access your collection in terms of locating the
objects in your collection, if the only information on the label is a
number. Even if the staff knows the respective collection very well,
it's impossible to trace e.g. lot 12345 in your collection unless it is
at least identified by additional taxonomic information and your
collection is arranged in systematic order. This is surely not a problem
for special / unique large mounts or fossils in your collection which
are easily identified, but for the normal collections routines (e.g. if
there are many incoming / outgoing loans which requires frequent
collection access).
2. Back-ups: Many smaller museums do not have a sufficient
IT-infrastructure (even though they should). If those collections are
digitised and managed / accessed completely electronically, this might
have direct negative consequences in the long run if maintenance of
servers and back-up routines are insufficient.
3. The situation gets even worse if your only identifier is a bar code,
which requires special hard- and software for reading. The usage of bar
coded vials is e.g. common in DNA Collections, where usage of old
fashioned print labels is causing problems regarding long term
durability of labels / adhesives under frozen conditions and in terms of
working capacities required for printing and tagging all the tubes. The
real problems will start, if there is no hard- & software support for
this technique the forthcoming years.
We know from the past, that we can read labels which are some hundred
years old, even though they might cause conservation issues. If we have
a conservation issue with a new label, fine, we print a new one. But we
don't have the same experience for all our databases yet, and data loss
would be disastrous if it leaves a abandoned number on an object.
Basically, a strong lightning stroke is sufficient to crash your server
and all your back-up systems if it hits your network well (And this is a
quite common natural phenomenon .... ;o)
Perhaps labels with full information are perhaps old style, but you can
read it basically without technical help (except for glasses)
Dirk
Am 02.07.2010 15:52, schrieb Shirley S albright:
> It's always wise to have important information like locality etc. recorded in multiple locations because of the potential for information loss. With the advent of label scanning and electronic databases - and their multiple backups - I question the need to have more information housed with the specimen. Paper labels are at risk for loss and may introduce conservation issues themselves. If the information has been digitized, however, this discussion becomes somewhat of a moot point because one can summarily produce a label of whatever size and depth of data is requested by the researcher or the curator. Historic labeling needs to be preserved (example: Audubon's handwritten labels or similar) and that can seldom be done if the labels are affixed to the specimen or scattered throughout specimen storage areas.
>
> Large objects (typically mammals, vertebrate fossils, rocks and minerals) have enjoyed the luxury of adequate space for extensive auxilliary labeling, but other kinds of collections (notably glass slide, entomology, macroscopic invertebrate, even many invertebrate fossils) cannot accomodate large labels in the storage areas because to do so would require exponentially large spaces - and space is money, so to speak.
>
> The point I'm trying to make is not whether one should or should not have more than a unique identifier viewable alongside the object, but to reinforce the idea that information loss can occur with accompanying paper labels just as written and digitized catalogues can be lost. Protocols for electronic records require daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly backups, at least one copy of which is stored offsite. Collection managers now have a variety of technology-based tools that can store and duplicate data from a variety of media - specimen labels, deeds of gift, scientific permits, field notes - without a crew of volunteer monks. To rely on the permanence of any form of paper record that has not been duplicated elsewhere is tempting the fates.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dirk Neumann"<Dirk.Neumann at zsm.mwn.de>
> To:jchupasko at oeb.harvard.edu
> Cc:NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
> Sent: Friday, July 2, 2010 2:48:39 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: [NHCOLL-L:4850] RE: Museum Labels for Mammal Mounts
>
> The tag should include not only the catalogue number but at least basic
> location/collecting information. When historic mounts of the Zoological
> Institute here in Munich were considered to be out of date for modern
> University education and handed to our museum, the most of the specimens
> still had their catalog numbers. However, there was not catalog ....
> The University Collection and the ZSM collection with its valuable
> historic specimens were managed as one collection until 1925 before it
> was separated under Karl von Frisch between the Zoological Institute and
> ZSM. The original catalog was lost in the 1970ies.
>
> By chance we were able to identify single types from this collection,
> because typically details or damages of these specific specimens had
> been published. But this is 4-5 out of several hundred specimens.
>
> The collection information is much more important then any accession or
> catalog number. So it should be a general concern to kept this
> information with the specimen.
>
> Dirk
>
>
> Am 01.07.2010 18:19, schrieb Judith Chupasko:
>
>> BTW, by "accession number", I actually meant the specimen's actual
>> individual "catalogue number"......sorry if I confused the two types
>> of documentation numbers. :) Judy
>>
>>
>> At 11:51 AM 7/1/2010, you wrote:
>>
>>> I agree with Tom Labedz. A museum specimen, whether on exhibit or not
>>> (especially if it belongs to one of the collections), should have a
>>> permanent "label" affixed to the actual animal itself with at least
>>> the accession number written on the label (India ink). Whether it is
>>> a small tag tied around a foot, base of horn or ear (somewhere where
>>> it will NOT slip off), or a number written with India ink on a tooth,
>>> claw, etc. Also, it is good to teach exhibit staff to NEVER remove a
>>> tag or label...... It is also a good precaution to write the
>>> accession number on the base. However, over the years, sometimes
>>> specimens are removed from bases (sometimes without the knowledge of
>>> collections staff) and information is lost, i.e. not being 100% sure
>>> which specimen the animal actually is....ok, that's my two cents
>>> after working in an old historic collection for over 21 years! lol Judy
>>>
>>> At 08:33 AM 7/1/2010, you wrote:
>>>
>>>> I use regular tags with data on mounts when off exhibit. Small tags
>>>> with only the catalog number and thread that matches pelage color
>>>> when on exhibit. The small tag being tucked into the fur
>>>> somewhere. I'll also write the permanent catalog number somewhere
>>>> obvious on the underside of the mount base. And, if possible, I'll
>>>> ink the number inconspicuously on the underside of a lip, edge of a
>>>> hoof or claw, on a piece of paper and tucked into an ear. AND, I'll
>>>> annotate the collection records noting that the mount is on
>>>> exhibit. Since it may decades and numerous changes of staff before
>>>> that mount comes back to the collections I want it well recorded
>>>> what is going on and where it is.
>>>>
>>>> Thomas E. Labedz, Collections Manager
>>>> Division of Zoology and Division of Botany
>>>> University of Nebraska State Museum
>>>> W-436 Nebraska Hall
>>>> 900 N. 16th St.
>>>> Lincoln, NE 68588-0514
>>>> 402/472-8366 fax 402/472-8949
>>>> tlabedz1 at unl.edu www.museum.unl.edu
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
>>>> [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu]
>>>> On Behalf Of Tina Campbell
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 7:16 PM
>>>> To:NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
>>>> Subject: [NHCOLL-L:4844] Museum Labels for Mammal Mounts
>>>>
>>>> Hello Everyone,
>>>>
>>>> How do museums attach labels to their mammal mounts? Do you have
>>>> tags, a Thank you,Tina
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Judy Chupasko, Curatorial Associate
>>> Department of Mammalogy, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology
>>> 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, Mass 02138
>>> 617-495-2469
>>> http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/Departments/Mammals/
>>>
>> Judy Chupasko, Curatorial Associate
>> Department of Mammalogy, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology
>> 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, Mass 02138
>> 617-495-2469
>> http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/Departments/Mammals/
>>
>>
>
--
Dirk Neumann
Tel: 089 / 8107-111
Fax: 089 / 8107-300
email: Dirk.Neumann(a)zsm.mwn.de
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81247 München
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---------
Dirk Neumann
Tel: +49-89-8107-111
Fax: +49-89-8107-300
email: Dirk.Neumann(a)zsm.mwn.de
postal address:
Bavarian Natural History Collections
The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology
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