[Nhcoll-l] Definition of "Backlog"

Tue May 6 14:20:20 EDT 2025

We too have an extensive backup here in the Academy of Natural Sciences Malacology collection – about 120,000 lots. This material is mostly from private collections that we have accepted over the years lest it be lost to science through disposal or dispersal. We anticipate that it will continue to grow, though at some point it will no longer be possible to accept new donations.

Once material is here and the donor has signed ownership over to us via a Deed of Gift, we generally bring it to one of four statuses:

  *   Uncataloged, undigitized: we know where it is; we might have a list, but no confirming inventory or spreadsheet yet
  *   Uncataloged, partially or fully digitized: we have at least an inventory we conducted ourselves, with a spreadsheet containing either only that or also the data received from the donor (such as their spreadsheet or database) regularized to our field format and confirmed against the specimens
  *   Cataloged, not distributed: all available data is in our database, and thus online; we know where every lot is and can put a hand to it if asked for images or loans
  *   Cataloged, distributed: the fully digitized material is in our systematic collection, in our standard housings with labels.

Between the first and second statuses we will decide what to keep and what not to. We are actively working on developing digital aids to help workers and students make these decisions based on what is already in our collection.
Moving from the third to the fourth status is the slowest and most expensive step, as it requires housing everything in archival materials, printing and cutting labels and distributing into the systematic sequence, which often means adding drawers and reorganizing cabinets. If your primary goal is to make the data available to everyone and specimens available on specific request, therefore, you might consider stopping at the third status.

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
callomon at ansp.org<mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Megan King
Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 12:55 PM
To: Shoobs, Nate <shoobs.1 at osu.edu>; Sarah K. Huber <skhuber at vims.edu>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Definition of "Backlog"

External.
Sarah,

Really interesting question you’ve brought up, and I am interested in hearing what others think as well in addition to Nate’s reply below!

Although I haven’t yet needed to calculate our backlog, ours are stored in cabinets, at least majority of them are, and I would count this based on cubbies with an approximate number of specimens per cubby for a rough estimate of the size of the backlog. I currently consider everything that has not been added to our collection (herbarium) as backlog, mostly because some of it hasn’t been reviewed in many years to determine what it is, and if it can be added to the collection. We’ve been putting things into stages as we have the time to go through it, such as: check for dups, gift material, needs labels typed, etc. and each of these stages go into cabinet cubbies and are labeled by what needs to be done for each of them.

Regards,
Megan

Help a Herbarium! Chrysler Herbarium Giving Link<https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/chrysler-herbarium/7045.html>

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> on behalf of Shoobs, Nate <shoobs.1 at osu.edu<mailto:shoobs.1 at osu.edu>>
Date: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 10:28 AM
To: Sarah K. Huber <skhuber at vims.edu<mailto:skhuber at vims.edu>>, 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: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Definition of "Backlog"
Hey Sarah,
We consider “backlog” to be anything that is catalogable, and also donations / holdings which are currently unassessed (i.e. could contain material we might want to catalog).

I don’t consider all material that is held but is not catalogable to be part of the backlog. For example, we have a sizeable collection of duplicates (culls from larger catalogued lots, material having too-similar time/place/ID to existing catalogued material)  that we use for education and exchange (we don’t bother to maintain a database of this material like some collections do, i.e. a numbered teaching collection). These are stored near the backlog material but are explicitly not to be catalogued.
We don’t have a formal accessioning process or registrar, but we do catalogue material in 3 “stages”. The first stage is determining whether material is, at a base level, sufficiently interesting/useful to catalogue and within scope. Stage 2 is entering locality and collecting event information for the material into our Specify 7 database, as well as noting the higher taxa represented. The 3rd and final stage is actually identifying and cataloguing material. Most of our backlog has been through “stage 1”, and “stage 2” and we actually serve up data on that online.<https://invertebrates.osu.edu/specify/query/106/> When material from a given place is interesting to someone, we can catalogue it rapidly (in about 3 clicks) once it is identified.

Our backlog is stored in standard size bankers boxes on steel shelving in the main collection gallery, and we track the size of backlog by the number of boxes. Obviously the number of lots in a box varies considerably, but keeping track of it by volume is pretty convenient for planning purposes and clearly communicable to nonspecialists like higher up administrators and building ops folks.

Hope this is helpful!
-Nate
--
[The Ohio State University]
Nathaniel F. Shoobs
Curator of Mollusks
College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology
Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212
614-688-1342 (Office)
mbd.osu.edu<http://mbd.osu.edu/>

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu>> on behalf of Sarah K. Huber <skhuber at vims.edu<mailto:skhuber at vims.edu>>
Date: Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 10:08 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] Definition of "Backlog"
I realize that this is a very nebulous area and that there is no “right” definition, but I am curious how your institution defines the backlog - specifically as it pertains to uncatalogued material. I have been asked to provide an
I realize that this is a very nebulous area and that there is no “right” definition, but I am curious how your institution defines the backlog - specifically as it pertains to uncatalogued material. I have been asked to provide an estimate of our uncatalogued backlog, and I’m getting into the weeds of how to define our backlog.

Thank you,
Sarah

Sarah K. Huber, Ph.D. (she/her)
Curatorial Associate, Nunnally Ichthyology Collection
Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences & VIMS
William & Mary
Office: 804-684-7104
skhuber at vims.edu<mailto:skhuber at vims.edu> | http://www.vims.edu/research/facilities/fishcollection/index.php<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.vims.edu/research/facilities/fishcollection/index.php__;!!KGKeukY!yu9GdS9PMfBLNtEj50Ue10FbsBYOiMx0wK7bUuZcRxcyuvdlqJPt4IPKWSVhEEN099em3xVKURZQlFBrcg$>
PO Box 1346 | 1370 Greate Rd., Gloucester Point, VA 23062

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