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The Pain of Ownership
Dealing with the accessioning of insect collections: the pros, cons, and
if entomological collections are a special case.
You don’t own
me!!...Yet?
Museums “Museums make their unique contribution to
the public by collecting, preserving and interpreting the things of this world.
Historically, they have owned and used natural objects, living and nonliving, and all
manner of human artifacts to advance knowledge and nourish the human spirit.” –
American Alliance of Museums
Synopsis What exactly is a “museum”, and who
decides
Accessioning versus cataloging versus ownership
What is so special about entomology collections
How can we mesh the specific needs of entomology collections with the expectations and responsibilities of a museum Pros and Cons, suggestions
Why Museums Finding fiscal support of collection
infrastructure and maintenance continues to be a challenge
Pressure to quantify and audit the “value” of a collection to granting agencies, general public.
When a collection becomes part of a “museum”, increased advocacy and visibility, but also need for accountability
Virtual Museum
Interactive
Museum
Borrow/Display
Hold/own and
Display
Collection only
Museums
Hold/own and
Display
Collection only
Information only Specimens/objects onlyLevel of Interpretation
Museum vs. Collection
American Alliance of Museums certification.
Museum Accreditation
Individualistic per museum Each museum sets their own rules, but its up
to them to maintain them to have accreditation.
Overall goal: accountability Written documentation of rules, best practices,
standards
Important that your collection’s needs and voices are heard in establishment of best practices and standards.
All part of greater effort for transparency in
where, when and how we got our objects
Accessioning Accessioning is not the act of obtaining
ownership, but the documentation of where, when, and how we got the material. Did you have the proper permits? Other
agreements?
Ownership: legal agreements with the donors releasing all rights to the material, such as Deed of Gifts Deed of Gifts are not standardized, vary by
stateThey are mine, all mine!!
Accessioning Mainly important for items in museums with
high commercial value, ethical complications, endangered species, etc. Art, Antiquities
Human remains (NAGPRA)
Fossils (dinosaurs, etc.)
Vertebrate groups, botanical groups
If you are part of a museum with multiple departments with different needs, have to match the standards set for all
Cataloging The “what we have” effort of museums
Effort to quantify the holdings, both for internal and external transparency, grants, etc.
Tied to accessioning How did we get our material to catalog?
All specimens in the collection have to have both sets of data accounted for and processed
Accession!!Catalog!!
Accessioning Every specimen has to be accessioned
1. Accession as you catalog
2. Catalog everything, then retro-accession
3. Accession as you get new material, hold off on the rest until you catalog the existing material
If a specimen is missing/broken/damaged, it has to be de-accessioned before it is thrown away Prove you know what happened to it
Ownership When we accession and “own” a specimen, we
own the physical specimen, not the information associated with it
Databasing efforts, digitization efforts make information free and available to the public Portal out our data to GBIF
Images of specimens: another story If museum has digital collections from original
sources in other collections and considers them “owned” by the museum, gets tricky with digital products with entomology too.
Entomological Collections
Large: some of the largest natural history collections both in size and scope
Prolific: Most academic institutions have entomological collections (especially land-grand universities)
Most of us don’t have completely cataloged or digitized collections
Suggestions If your institution is considering becoming a
formal museum and getting accreditation: Determine how you are going to deal
with bulk material and lots.
Suggestions How much effort are you going to place on
retroactive accessions? What is your collection’s focus?
Field and real-time specimen research?
Historical information?
Endangered Species?
Suggestions Articulate the level of processing time
needed in field-collection acquisitions
Processing specimens can take weeks, months, years
Incoming units may change from finished product (lots of alcohol material to pinned series, sleeved, etc.)
Sooner you articulate the amount of time it takes, the less you’ll be bugged by the registrar/conservator about why your accessions aren’t done yet
Also depends on how much information the registrar needs.
The earlier you can get involved, the easier it will be to
implement standards.
MUCH harder to try to fit in with established rules, especially
with large collections.
Pros Being part of a larger museum helps with
advocacy of your specific collection needs and infrastructure
Increases attractiveness for federal funding by aligning with museum standards and best practicesAccessioning and cataloging efforts will benefit research programs in the long run.
- sets up a good track record for future donations
Cons Increased paperwork and bureaucracy
Possible redundancy of information for both cataloging and accessioning Advocate for the accessioning system to be
able to import your cataloging efforts early on
De-accessioning of material that may or may not be worth the time
Discussion Following talks today.
Thank you: Lindsay Palaima, SNOMNH Registrar
Dr. John Oswald of the TAMUIC collection for perspective of a University collection
Entomological Collections Network