SPNHC herbarium workshop

Herbarium Information Bazaar at SPNHC Workshop

    Help Wanted:  Your ideas, tips, techniques on any and all aspects of
    plant collecting and collections, in the form of a poster, display
    and/or demonstration.  Your participation is desired to make the
    "Herbarium Information Bazaar" a success.

The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC)
will be holding its annual meeting in Toronto, 2-6 June 1995.  A
workshop entitled "Managing the Modern Herbarium" will be held on Monday
and Tuesday, 5-6 June.  More details about the meeting and workshop can
be found below.

On Monday evening, an informal "Herbarium Information Bazaar" will
provide an opportunity for interaction among workshop participants and
speakers.  The conservators and consultants who will be participating in
the day's session on Herbarium Conservation will be on hand with
demonstration materials, and to answer questions about papers,
adhesives, plastic products, pest control, inks, humidity control, or
renovation and design. Suppliers will also be there to discuss and
display archival and other herbarium products.

For this evening to be a success we also need you to actively
participate in the bazaar by: sharing your ideas and techniques in a
display, poster or video, or by demonstrating your special herbarium or
field approach on-the-spot (and let the rest of us give a try, too)!

To prompt your thinking about what you may have to
offer, consider:

    *   field work: collecting, drying specimens

    *   specimen preparation

    *   non-vascular plant concerns

    *   packing and shipping

    *   pest control

    *   new products (truly new or new applications for old or
        non-traditional)

    *   database formats or label generation

Don't assume that "everybody already knows that..."; It's almost certain
that we don't all "know that..."!  The intent of the evening is to be
able to explore the alternatives.

When you've come up with some ideas, inform us of your intentions (by
March 31 please) by providing the information at the end of this notice.
We would love to hear from you and may be able to help you with
suggestions on how to present your ideas.

We want the evening to be fun as well as informative. There will be lots
of space for the "Bazaar" so we hope that you will attend and
participate!  Bring your questions and your answers!

Preliminary information being requested:

    Brief statement (description) of topic you'd like to contribute.

    Format: Demo    Display    Poster    Video    Not Sure

    Will be attending and can set-up/present in person?  Yes  No

    For presentation:  supplies or other needs for presentation?

    For video: tape format?

    Prefer to be contacted by (postal/e-mail address or phone/FAX
    number):

Please forward this information to:

    Deb Lewis
    Department of Botany
    Iowa State University
    Ames, IA   50011-1020 (USA)
    E-mail: dlewis [at] iastate__edu
    Phone: +1 515 294 9499
    Fax: +1 515 294 1337

Additional information about the SPNHC Annual Meeting:

SPNHC '95 - "Preserving the Record of Nature through Countless Ages"

The 10th annual meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural
History Collections (SPNHC) will be hosted by the Royal Ontario Museum,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2-6 June 1995.  Everyone is encouraged to
submit papers and posters on natural history collection management
issues for consideration.  Meeting activities include oral and poster
presentations, vendor displays, committee meetings, a business meeting
and the following social events--an icebreaker reception and a
dinner-dance.

Workshop - Managing the Modern Herbarium
The SPNHC Education and Training Committee in conjunction with the ROM
Department of Botany is offering its first discipline-specific workshop,
June 5-6.  This program is intended for herbarium managers and curators,
researchers, and all others interested in the preservation, care,
maintenance and use of collections of plants and fungi.  The objective
is to provide a working knowledge of the most recent developments in
preventive conservation and environmental control to address issues
pertaining to modern usage and documentation of herbarium specimens.
Many topics to be presented here are applicable to all systematic
collections.

Monday:  Preventive Conservation in the Herbarium Case studies, panel
presentations and discussion will be among the formats used to explore
preventive conservation in the modern herbarium.  Conservators,
consultants and curators will join forces to provide an understanding
of, and to identify practical and inexpensive solutions to herbarium
conservation concerns. Among the topics to be covered:  conservation
standards; building design and environment; viable options for
integrated pest management control; choices of papers, adhesives, inks
and plastic products; and a review of available resources on preventive
conservation and collections care.

Monday evening:  Herbarium Information Bazaar (see information above)

Tuesday:  Contemporary Issues Facing Herbaria
Bar Coding:  Standards for Systematic Collections.  The results of a
survey conducted for the Taxonomic Databases Working Group on the use of
bar codes in systematic collections will be presented.  Recommendations
for bar-coding specifications, interpretation and standardization will
be made.  Can we achieve a unique code for each specimen, or specimen
part, in every systematic collection in the world?

Destructive Sampling and Molecular Systematics:  Are we moving toward a
consensus?  Discussion will focus on the issues related to the expanding
role of destructive sampling of herbarium specimens:  what is the
current state of technologies; establishing guidelines for sampling, for
documentation, and optimal retention of data; how can molecular
systematics and herbaria mutually benefit from new roles for preserved
specimens; how can we best address issues of DNA storage and
availability?

For an information packet about the meeting and workshop, including
registration forms, contact:

    SPNHC '95 Conference
    Royal Ontario Museum
    100 Queens Park
    Toronto, Ontario
    CANADA M5S 2C6
    phone 416/586-5523
    FAX   416/586-5863
    bradm [at] rom__on.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:73
                 Distributed: Wednesday, March 8, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-8-73-009
                                  ***