[Nhcoll-l] outsourcing specimen prep

[OConnor, Barry]

Some years ago, I was involved with a large collection of mites that was deposited in an (unnamed) Museum in the USA. Many of the slides had only host numbers on them, so the museum wanted to have the specimens properly labeled before loaning them to me (they had most of the data available). They hired two people with no training or experience (off the street, as we say) at the lowest salary. They were trained and allowed to take boxes of slides and labels home with them. After some time, the museum staff was unable to make contact with one of the individuals. Later, I believe, they were finally able to repossess the specimens, many still unlabeled. At that time, they decided to make the loan to me and allow me to prepare and properly label the specimens.
I would not be in favor of outsourcing even this simple step in specimen preparation.
All the best! - Barry

-So many mites, so little time!

Barry M. OConnor                    phone: 734-763-4354
Curator & Professor                 fax: 734-763-4080
Museum of Zoology                 e-mail: bmoc at umich.edu
University of Michigan
1109 Geddes Ave
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079

From: <Desjardins>, "R.B." <Becky.Desjardins at ncbnaturalis.nl<mailto:Becky.Desjardins at ncbnaturalis.nl>>
Date: Thursday, June 7, 2012 8:00 AM
To: "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>" <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] outsourcing specimen prep

Hello all;

Upper management at my institute would like to being outsourcing all specimen preparation:  study skins of vertebrates, spirits for herps and fish, paleo and geo, inverts, everything (except plants, maybe) to save money.   I was curious if any other institutes  has done this or has experience with anything like this?  Personally, I think it is a bad idea (and it seems most folks here agree) but I would love to know if anyone is trying this.

Thanks,

Becky Desjardins

NCB Naturalis
Leiden, Netherlands
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