[Nhcoll-l] Care & Use of Natural History Museum Collections Class--your input requested
Sarah Timm
stimm10 at vt.edu
Fri Mar 7 10:57:13 EST 2014
Dear Heather et al.
I am currently the geological collections and database specialist at the
Virginia Museum of Natural History. Our museum is closed today due to the
weather but I would be happy to check on Monday and see if that publication
is available that Robert mentioned.
Also, per Dirk's comment "In my view, researchers need to understand that
their samples have a value beyond their (own) research interest, and thus
need to be documented thoroughly (e.g. detailed protocols of chemicals &
buffers used for extraction & storage) and *need to be* transferred with
comprehensive data into university or museum based collections after
termination of the respective research project. It is a prerequisite of
good research to allow verification of (own) research results. This can
only be achieved if the materials / samples remain "available"."
I agree wholeheartedly and I think it is growing more and more important to
focus on preservation not only of the specimens themselves but their
associated data. In my opinion the easiest way to preserve specimen data,
and share it with the community of both present and future scientists, is
to make it digital. I attached an article which I wrote that is currently
in press or I would provide you a link to the published version. This
article discusses the importance of preservation, but more importantly the
tools for implementing preservation strategies. I hope you find it
insightful. Below is an excerpt from this article which pertains directly
to this conversation thread. I should mention that EGEMS is a digital
record-keeping system for geological materials. More information on EGEMS
can be found at www.egemsinfo.com
"In addition to the more commonly known materials (Rocks, Minerals,
Fossils) EGEMS also has the capability to store information for other
materials such as Research Products. Research Products are geological
materials that can be used for future research purposes or were derived
from pre-existing research projects. Examples include: thin sections
(polished or covered), billets, experimental powers, synthesized materials,
etc. When information for these are fully filled in they act as a recipe
that can be re-created in the future (Figure 10). Most of the fields for
Research Products in EGEMS are new to digital record keeping systems
everywhere."
In response to your original question I believe in today's digital age, a
major part of a collections management curriculum should be acquainting the
students with the various databases and digital tools they are likely to
encounter in their career.
Thank you Heather for developing this course, I wish I could have taken it
before I began my career in collections management! If yourself or anyone
else wishes to contact me regarding this topic or any of these tools I
would be happy to discuss further and I can be reached at stimm10 at gmail.com
.
~Sarah
On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 9:50 AM, Bentley, Andrew Charles <abentley at ku.edu>wrote:
> Heather
>
>
>
> I would also suggest that you scavenge some course ideas from some of the
> better natural history track museum studies courses out there. There is
> one here at KU and they have outlines of their course material online at:
>
>
>
> http://museumstudies.ku.edu/overview
>
>
>
> I have also developed a short handout for the collection tours that we
> give these students outlining some of the aspects they need to be aware of
> - see attached. I would be happy to provide any of the materials mentioned
> therein if this is useful.
>
>
>
> I would also have a look at the SPNHC organizations Collection Forum and
> newsletter for appropriate articles on collection based research -
> http://www.spnhc.org/19/publications
>
>
>
> Hope that helps
>
>
>
> Andy
>
>
>
> A : A : A :
> }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
> V V V
> Andy Bentley
> Ichthyology Collection Manager
> University of Kansas
> Biodiversity Institute
>
> Dyche Hall
> 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
> Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
> USA
>
> Tel: (785) 864-3863
> Fax: (785) 864-5335
> Email: abentley at ku.edu
>
> http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu
>
>
>
> SPNHC President-Elect
>
> http://www.spnhc.org
>
>
>
> : :
> A : A : A :
> }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
> V V V
>
>
>
> *From:* nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:
> nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] *On Behalf Of *Robert Waller
> *Sent:* Friday, March 07, 2014 7:52 AM
> *To:* 'Heather Lerner'; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Care & Use of Natural History Museum
> Collections Class--your input requested
>
>
>
> Hi Heather,
>
> In connection with (1) you might want to look at the publication by Cato
> et al:
>
> Paisley S. Cato, Robert Waller, Llyn Sharp, John Simmons and Stephen L.
> Williams. Developing Staff Resources for Managing Collections. Virginia
> Museum of Natural History, Special Publication Number 4, Martinsville,
> 71pp., 1996.
>
> It should still be available from the Virginia Museum of Natural History.
>
> Rob
>
>
>
> *From:* nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [
> mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>]
> *On Behalf Of *Heather Lerner
> *Sent:* March 6, 2014 2:29 PM
> *To:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] Care & Use of Natural History Museum Collections
> Class--your input requested
>
>
>
> I have the wonderful opportunity to be the director at the Joseph Moore
> Museum at Earlham College. With that position, I get to teach one course
> per year in "Museum Studies." My goals with the course are to first train
> students in the most useful skills they will need to go on as collections
> managers or curators or researchers who use collections, and second, for
> students who may never work in/for a museum in the future, to convince them
> of the importance of biological collections so that they will be educated
> lifelong museum advocates.
>
> Here is where I ask for *your input:*
> (1) what are the *skills *you want incoming collections manager, graduate
>
> students or curators to have?
>
> (2) we will read an article each week in which someone has published their
> research using specimens/collections as a primary source of
> information/data. For example, ancient DNA, isotope, morphological studies.
>
> What are some of the best *examples of collections-based research* you
>
> thinkI should include?
>
> Thanks for your input,
>
> Heather
>
>
>
> --
>
> Heather
>
> *******************************************
> Heather R. L. Lerner, Ph.D., M.S.
> Joseph Moore Museum <http://earlham.edu/jmm> Director
> Assistant Professor of Biology
> Earlham College
> 801 National Road West
> Richmond IN 47374
>
> *******************************************
> Google Voice: 949-GENOMES
> Email: hlerner at gmail.com
> http://heatherlerner.com/
> *******************************************
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nhcoll-l mailing list
> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l
>
> _______________________________________________
> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
>
>
--
Sarah Timm
* Geological Collections & Database Specialist, Virginia Museum of Natural
HistoryMS in Geosciences with Focus on Geological Collections
ManagementPhone: 845-774-9994*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20140307/58d9949b/attachment-0001.html
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: COMPUTER-BASED TOOLS FOR OPTIMIZING PRESERVATION, ACCESS, AND USABILITY OF GEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS - SARAH TIMM.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 1381498 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20140307/58d9949b/attachment-0001.pdf
More information about the Nhcoll-l
mailing list