[Nhcoll-l] outsourcing specimen prep

[O'Brien, Mark]

My view on this is - we expect that any museum uses well-trained people that have a vested interest in doing things according to the accepted standards of whatever type of taxonomic group they work on.  Museums also have a responsibility for documenting the chain of custody and permit process.   Yes, there are many tasks that can be done by marginally-trained people, but they are done under the supervision of a curator or collection manager.

I would ask the bean-counters if they would have MacDonald's cater a state dinner.

Mark

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Mark F. O'Brien, Collection Manager
Insect Division, Museum of Zoology
The University of Michigan
1109 Geddes Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079
(734)-647-2199
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From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Desjardins, R.B.
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2012 8:00 AM
To: 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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