[Nhcoll-l] specimen vault vs vaults

[Bentley, Andrew Charles]

Tonya

I think like collections that require the same environmental conditions could just as easily be stored in the same room as long as there is separation of the two collections to allow for proper management of the collection.  We have birds, mammals and entomology stored in the same room in our storage building but the collections are physically separated on compactor carriages to ensure adequate collection management by the individual collection managers and provide some level of autonomy for each collection in the way the specimens are shelved and managed.  This would not necessarily need to be true for multiple collections managed by the same person or people.  The same is true of our wet collections where ichthyology, herpetology, mammalogy, ornithology, invertebrate zoology and entomology are all stored within the same wet storage facility.  Granted in this case there is floor separation for most collection with each collection on its own floor except for one floor which is a mix of collections – but all within their own compactor carriage runs.

I think it makes more sense to separate collections by type (wet, dry, paleo, etc.) rather than discipline for storage.

Andy

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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<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>
http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu<http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu/>

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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of "Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)" <Tonya.Haff at csiro.au>
Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 3:07 PM
To: "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] specimen vault vs vaults

Hello all,

I am wondering if any of you have opinions on the utility of separating collections into different vaults/rooms, or of housing them all together in one large space? We are planning a new building, and there have been some questions regarding the utility and point of keeping similar collections (e.g. bird and mammal skins) separated (they are housed in different vaults now). From my perspective, it seems that keeping collection types separate is useful for several reasons, including reducing the risk of pest spread between collections, and ease of workflow for researchers and staff working in different collections. But perhaps there are great advantages (here's one - a bit of extra space from the lack of an internal dividing wall) to housing everything in one large space that I haven't thought of? Have any of you moved to or away from housing different taxa together, and if so what have you found? Advice and opinions very much appreciated!

Cheers,

Tonya


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