Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Introduction 3.1 Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) 4 General Recommendations for Processing Specimens 5 General Methods 6 Ichthyology Specific Methods 7 Herpetology Specific Methods 7.1 Amphibians 7.2 Amphibians and Fish: Larvae and Embryos 7.3 Reptiles 8 References Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about best practices for euthanasia. Contributors Breda Zimkus and Dirk Neumann. Some…
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Sustainability within the museum setting 4 Sustainable development goals within museums 4.1 Action Items 5 Educators and staff working directly with visitors 6 Researchers and Staff 7 Energy consumption 8 Waste Reduction 9 Materials reused 10 Materials discarded 11 Contributors 12 References Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about best practices for environmental specification for collections spaces…
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Pinned collections 3.1 Hazards 3.2 Handling 3.3 Storage 4 Secondary Mounts 5 Envelopes 5.1 Sealing 5.2 Labeling 5.3 Material 6 Contributors 7 Source Material 8 Links 9 References Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about curating entomology collections. Introduction Entomology collections have methods that have been used successfully for many hundreds of years, and proper use of these methods…
Published: March 26, 2025 Committees
About The mission of the Emerging Professionals Group (EPG) is to generate ideas that will bring about our greater involvement in the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), and to offer more opportunities for connections, mentorship, and professional development tailored to emerging professionals working with natural history collections. The Emerging Professionals Group…
Published: March 26, 2025 Committees
About The Election Committee is responsible for coordinating and carrying out the procedural steps involved in the nomination and election of officers. Committee Members Up-to-date membership for committee. Committee Documents Election Committee Description from the Leadership Manual
Published: March 26, 2025 Committees
Contents 1 About 1.1 Function 1.2 Leadership and Composition 1.3 Duties 2 Collections Education Resources 2.1 Natural History Education Portal 2.2 Other Collections Resources 3 Collections Education Events 3.1 Natural History Education DemoCamp 4 Committee Members About Function The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections Education Committee will work to develop, support, and promote formal (K-12, Undergraduate and Graduate) and informal education, and…
About These links and documents contain information about best practices for disaster planning in the museum relevant to natural history collections. Museum SOS For many people in the museum community, the events that took place in New York and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001 brought home the vulnerability of our cultural heritage and added…
Published: March 26, 2025 Conference Proceedings
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 1.1 Introduction to Digitization 2 Contributors 3 Related pages 4 iDigBio’s workflows for digitization 5 Six task clusters of digitization 6 Adam Summers workflow for CT scanning Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about digitizing natural history collections and their associated data. Introduction to Digitization In the context of the SPNHC wiki ‘digitize’ means…
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 1.1 Defining Digitization 2 Digitization Resources 2.1 Data Aggregation 2.2 Data Aggregators 2.3 Data Management 2.4 Data Mobilization 2.5 Data Standards and Mobilization 2.6 Data Transcription 2.7 Database Software 2.8 Georeferencing 2.9 iDigBio Digitization Resources Wiki 2.10 Imaging and Media 2.11 Key References and Further Reading 2.11.1 Herbarium resources 2.12 Webinars 2.13 Workflows 2.14 Workshops and Symposia 3 Contributors 4 References Statement of Purpose Realizing the import of collections [1][2][3], SPNHC…
Contents 1 About 2 Contributors 3 Introduction 4 2D Imaging 4.1 Equipment 4.2 Fluid Collections Imaging 4.3 Dry Specimen Imaging 5 3D Imaging 6 Advocacy for Imaging 7 Links About These links and documents contain information about best practices for digital imaging of specimens. Both 2D and 3D imaging can be very important to collections and achieved in a variety of ways. This page…
Published: March 26, 2025 Conference Proceedings
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Database choice and formatting Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about databasing as relevant to natural history collections. Contributors Content generated during The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) Annual Joint Meeting – 2016, during an iDigBio sponsored workshop by the following individuals participating in…
Published: March 26, 2025 Conference Proceedings
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Data Aggregation (mobilization) 4 Identifiers (GUID) Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about data aggregation as relevant to natural history collections. Contributors Content generated during The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) Annual Joint Meeting – 2016, during an iDigBio sponsored workshop by the…
Contents 1 About 2 Contributors 3 Introduction 4 Continuity of Operations Policy 5 Notification and Essential Personnel 6 Packages and Mail 7 Checking on Collections 8 Communication with Stakeholders during Closures 9 Preparing to Work Remotely 9.1 Computers and Software 9.2 Projects and Employee Expectations 10 Links About Here we present a checklist of items to consider for maintaining business continuity during institutional closures, specifically when circumstances…
Published: March 25, 2025 Committees
Contents 1 About 2 Committee Members 3 Committee Documents 4 Links About The Conservation Committee is responsible for acquiring, developing, and distributing information to the Society to promote the long-term preservation of natural history objects and associated materials. The Conservation Committee encourages and facilitates collaborative projects among curators, collection managers, and conservators that contribute to best practices for collection…
Published: March 25, 2025 Committees
About The Conference Committee coordinates the logistics and scheduling of the Society’s Annual Meetings, recommends sites for future meetings, and submits those recommendations to the SPNHC President to put to a full Council vote. The Committee maintains written guidelines on meeting organization and makes decisions on issues referred by local organizing committees (LOCs) that do…
Contents 1 About 2 Contributors 3 Introduction 4 Activities and Meetings 5 Preventative Actions 6 Staff Considerations: Hiring, Training, and Offboarding 7 Insurance and Value Assignment 8 Risk Levels 9 Response to Potential Theft 10 Communication Channels 11 Monitoring for Stolen Specimens 12 Education and Engagement 13 References About The aim of the SPNHC Collection Theft and Security Monitoring Toolkit is to provide information about measures that would…
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Contributors 4 Collection Techniques 4.1 Herps 4.2 Fishes 5 Equipment Disinfection Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about best practices for collecting specimens. Contributors Content generated during The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) Annual Joint Meeting – 2016, during an iDigBio sponsored workshop by the following individuals participating in…
Published: March 25, 2025 Committees
About The Bylaws Committee is responsible for the continued development of the Society Bylaws and Leadership Manual as needed, as well as monitoring Society activities to ensure agreement with the Bylaws. Committee Members Up-to-date membership for committee. Committee Documents Bylaws Committee Description from the Leadership Manual
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 Introduction 4 Mounted specimens 4.1 Pressing and drying botanical specimens 4.2 Mounting botanical specimens 5 Packets 6 Dried tissue (silica or cryo) 7 References Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about botany specimen preparation. Contributors This material was added by Katie Pearson on behalf of the Society of Herbarium Curators Early Career Section. Introduction Botanical…
Published: March 25, 2025 Committees
About The purpose of this committee is to investigate the role of SPNHC in mobilizing collections around effective means of mitigating biodiversity loss and widely broadcasting the collection community’s positive contributions in this area. Our collections and research contribute directly to regional, national, and international assessments of rare and endangered species, the compilation of checklists,…
Published: March 25, 2025 Best Practices
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Contributors 4 Links 5 References Statement of Purpose This page is produced by the Biodiversity Crisis Response Committee as a page of resources of use to collections to showcase how they can be used to address conservation and biodiversity crisis themes as a tool to increase advocacy for collections in general. If you know…
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Contributors 4 Modalities 4.1 Micro-CT 4.2 MRI 4.3 Structure from Motion 4.4 Laser Scanning 4.5 Structured Light Scanning 4.6 3D Reconstruction from Stacked 2D Images 5 Archiving Statement of Purpose Understanding of (and standards for) 3D, or three-dimensional, imaging as a digitization process for natural history collections. Introduction “3D imaging” refers to a wide range of techniques for…
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Contributors 3 How are the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol Connected? 4 Scope 5 The Nagoya Protocol In Brief 6 ABS Clearing-House 7 National Focal Points and Competent National Authorities 8 Access Obligations 9 Benefit-sharing Obligations 9.1 Monetary and Non-monetary Benefits 10 Compliance Obligations 11 Monitoring User Compliance 12 Guidance for Compliance: Codes of Conduct, Guidelines and Best Practice…
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Accession procedure 4 Deed of Transfer 5 Example Repository Agreement Policy 6 Legal definitions 7 KU acquisition documents 8 Contributors 9 Source material 10 References Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about best practices for acquiring and accessioning specimens into natural history collections. Acquisition is a transaction and the legal process for transfer of…
Contents 1 Contributors 2 Introduction 3 The use of adhesives in botanical collections 4 Adhesives used for mounting, repairs and conservation treatment 5 Methylcellulose (MC) 6 Hydroxylpropylcellulose (HPC) 7 Wheat starch paste (WSP) 8 Animal glues: Gelatins, Isinglass 9 Poly(vinyl acetate) (PVA) 10 Acrylics 11 A note on the Archer’s plastic adhesive 12 Conclusions on the use of adhesives in botanical collections 13 Bibliography Contributors Magdalena Grenda-Kurmanow Introduction…
Contents 1 Contributors 2 Myanmar Amber Contributors Christina Byrd Myanmar Amber The following guidelines and resources were developed by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) Myanmar Advisory Working Group. These guidelines were developed with input from relevant experts and stakeholders. It is the hope of SVP that these resources and guidelines will help any members…
Contents 1 Statement of Purpose 2 Introduction 3 Uses 4 Common Collection Types 5 Contributors 6 Source Material 7 Links 8 References Statement of Purpose These links and documents contain information about best practices for archives and special collections relevant to natural history collections. Introduction Special Collections are collections that are separated from an institution’s main collection according to; collector, rarity, specimen type,…
Links http://www.spnhc.org/media/assets/cofo_1995_V11N1.pdf
Published: March 24, 2025 Best Practices
Contents 1 About 2 Committee Members 3 Links 4 Committee 4.1 Committee Documents About The purpose of the Best Practices Committee is to assemble and disseminate best practices associated with natural history collection care and to provide infrastructure that allows the development and evolution of best practices in response to innovations within the field. By initiating and hosting web-based discussion…
Published: March 24, 2025 Best Practices
Contents 1 Contributors 2 Introduction 3 The use of biocides in herbarium collections 4 Natural biocidal products 5 Miraculous chemicals and health risks 6 Classification of biocides 7 Characteristics of selected biocides used in herbaria 8 Inorganic compounds 8.1 Mercury chloride, (I) Hg2Cl2 and (II) HgCl2 (sublimate) 8.2 Arsenic (diarsenic trioxide), As2O3, As4O6; lead arsenate, PbHAsO4; other arsenic compounds 8.3 Hydrogen cyanide, HCN 8.4 Phosphine, PH3 8.5 Barium fluorosilicate BaSiF6,…
