[Nhcoll-l] Urgent: University of Louisiana at Monroe Museum of Natural History facing imminent divestment or destruction

French, Johnnie johnnie_french at fws.gov
Wed Mar 29 11:09:02 EDT 2017


ULM may want to consider donating the collection to the USF&W repository in
Denver.  Contact and other information can be found at the link below.  It
would entail a shipping cost but the value of the collection is tax
deductible and might sway the university to cover the cost of shipping.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.fws.gov_wildliferepository_donation.php&d=DwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=_uZPYexMHrZzDX67i_VvERgEvWY76fZhrIDyknk3mCs&s=GXtQWP8FFkm8rtU-zjul63RUQlSG3A7ykE_yQ8mXSak&e= 



On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 7:45 AM, Paolo Viscardi <p.viscardi at gmail.com>
wrote:

> It strikes me that this is where wider sector advocacy comes in. Many
> collections have focussed on research and collections care rather than
> promoting the role of collections. In the UK when we see this sort of
> situation the community sends letters of support for the collection,
> occasionally having a positive effect on the decision-makers (particularly
> when some press reporting occurs).
>
> In this case I would suggest that SPNHC, GCG and NatSCA prepare an open
> letter of support for the collection, highlighting the issue of the
> timescales and logistics involved in a collections move, then seek
> signatories to lend weight to it. Since there has been some reporting
> already it seems likely that such a letter will be picked up on by the
> press, which will serve the threefold purpose of offering support for this
> collection, getting some advocacy statements out there to help reinforce
> why collections are a valuable resource more generally, and it will be a
> visible reminder to other academic administrators that threats to
> collections can lead to bad press and have a negative impact on
> institutional reputation.
>
> Would people on this list be willing to put their names to such a letter?
>
> Paolo
>
> On Wed, 29 Mar 2017, 15:13 Bentley, Andrew Charles, <abentley at ku.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> I don’t think that is necessarily true.  The administration has just been
>> put between a rock and a hard place due to funding cuts and as we know,
>> natural history collections are a prime target for such downsizing
>> initiatives.  The decision was made that much easier by the lack of a
>> public or research “face” to the museum.  How are they supposed to advocate
>> for the museum’s collections when their website doesn’t even mention
>> collections or research at all!!  There is no way of showing a need for the
>> administration to take action to preserve the collections.
>>
>>
>>
>> The biggest thing you need to do is make your collection/institution
>> visible and promote and advocate for it at every opportunity. Become part
>> of the collections community. There is no substitute for self-promotion.
>> Your website and social media should sing your praises and showcase how
>> valuable your collections are but they should also be accessible through
>> web portals, aggregators etc. so that they can be effectively used by the
>> research community. We do however need a fundamental shift in the way
>> collections are perceived by the rest of our community - the researchers
>> need to advocate for the collections they use and provide products created
>> back to the collections (publications, Genbank sequences etc.), the
>> aggregators need to do more for the collections that are part of their
>> networks (provide user stats, cleanup tools and measures of collections
>> worth) while publishers also need to work to make collection specimen
>> citations more discoverable and NSF needs to provide more mechanisms for
>> funding these collections that are a national and international treasure.
>>
>>
>>
>> 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
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu&d=DwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=_uZPYexMHrZzDX67i_VvERgEvWY76fZhrIDyknk3mCs&s=SfCJ2V1OlDs7tkEpCPfVEEoAttlbW7JgrOILR9SCA74&e= 
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu_&d=DwMGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=hx9igQWW3gGZEUiSs9Mr8X_nNuh1ioezsoPK-jL7OvY&s=g6Ld_1CnjdvqqOLr2wJ7U8mkHI0smvRD6y2MXWU7myE&e=>
>>
>>
>>
>> SPNHC Past-President
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.spnhc.org&d=DwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=_uZPYexMHrZzDX67i_VvERgEvWY76fZhrIDyknk3mCs&s=25zOdzu9vVbMYu4btz0gPcdT3y1AnrHaZac6Its2nsM&e= 
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.spnhc.org_&d=DwMGaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=hx9igQWW3gGZEUiSs9Mr8X_nNuh1ioezsoPK-jL7OvY&s=58XuO50hhbfiPN6O8c4p-Dw-3Do05r6Dtr0af-hEaBo&e=>
>>
>>
>>
>>                            :                 :
>>     A  :             A  :             A  :
>>  }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
>>     V                V                V
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@
>> mailman.yale.edu] *On Behalf Of *Barry OConnor
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 29, 2017 8:57 AM
>>
>>
>> *To:* nhcoll <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
>> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Urgent: University of Louisiana at Monroe
>> Museum of Natural History facing imminent divestment or destruction
>>
>>
>>
>> If the Facebook post can be taken at "face" value, it sounds like the
>> administration actively wants to destroy the collections. A German
>> colleague told me years ago about a museum who hired a new head who didn't
>> see the need for research collections. As it was told, he personally helped
>> toss the specimens into the dumpsters.
>>
>> Louisiana isn't known for the quality of its educational system. A recent
>> study (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__wallethub.com_edu_states-2Dwith-2Dthe-2Dbest-2Dschools_5335_&d=DwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=_uZPYexMHrZzDX67i_VvERgEvWY76fZhrIDyknk3mCs&s=It6ElbfjZplbzVQhiJFs81uuyhChDlddPWsRFqlUJt8&e= 
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__wallethub.com_edu_states-2Dwith-2Dthe-2Dbest-2Dschools_5335_&d=DwMFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=0v18NpK8Vglr7xqP95ajQMRdpJ5O1qPNQzsn_qn9AdY&s=sQLlOlHfpT5poqnCB8uPkF7Est2XwGKyzndZQCZo15U&e=>) puts
>> the state at #51 out of 51 states & DC evaluated for the quality of their
>> pre-college systems. Given their priorities, seems like football should win
>> out, although I don't know how many of this institution's players go on to
>> successful NFL careers.
>>
>> All the best! - Barry
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 9:22 AM, Furth, David <FURTHD at si.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Great idea Chris.
>>
>> This also happened with the Paleo collections at Princeton & Yale Peabody
>> stepped up and sent a team to pack & transfer them. Also the insect
>> collections at Indiana (so they could expand the sex institute there) and
>> Yale also went to get them before the dumpster, etc., etc.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone
>>
>>
>>
>> -------- Original message --------
>> From: Christine Johnson <cjohnson at amnh.org>
>> Date: 3/29/17 16:13 (GMT+02:00)
>> To: Doug Yanega <dyanega at ucr.edu>, nhcoll <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Urgent: University of Louisiana at Monroe Museum
>> of Natural History facing imminent divestment or destruction
>>
>> Hi All,
>> I've been thinking about this ever-growing problem for a while, as now
>> and again you hear of orphaned/abandoned collections.
>>
>> What do people think of creating some kind of task force to come up with
>> a list of the collections in the U.S. (iDigBio probably has most of these
>> collections listed already) and reach out to them before things reach a
>> crisis point? We could provide 'emergency' contact info for other
>> institutions who would be willing to take the material. It may even serve
>> to show the administration of the institutions that other places value the
>> material and give them incentive to preserve them.
>>
>> Just a thought.
>> Chris
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@
>> mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>] On Behalf Of Doug
>> Yanega
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2017 9:00 PM
>> To: nhcoll <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Urgent: University of Louisiana at Monroe Museum
>> of Natural History facing imminent divestment or destruction
>>
>> FYI: I'm not affiliated in any way with ULM, I posted about this because
>> it needs broader attention, immediately, and to see if anyone has ideas as
>> to how the museum community might put pressure on the admins of ULM to
>> re-think this terrible ultimatum.
>>
>> Peace,
>>
>> --
>> Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
>> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
>> phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
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>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
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>> --
>>
>> -So many mites, so little time!
>>
>> Barry M. OConnor
>> Professor  & Curator
>> Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
>>
>> University of Michigan                  phone: 734-763-4354
>> 1109 Geddes Ave.                          fax: 734-763-4080
>> Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079          e-mail: bmoc at umich.edu
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-- 
Respectfully,

Johnnie French
Collections Manager
National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab
1490 East Main Street
Ashland,OR 97520
Direct: 541-488-6531; Lab: 541-482-4191
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