New list: Herbaria

The American Society of Plant Taxonomists/ASPT has recently
announced its new e-mail list, which might be of interest to those
of you dealing with natural history materials and herbaria in
particular. Topics covered are wider than preservation per se, e.g.
sensitive data and annotation policies--but it all contributes to
understanding herbaria as vital collection units. You need not be an
ASPT member to join. ASPT just brought forth following notice:

We would like to invite everyone to join a new email list that will
focus on issues related to herbaria. This idea of setting up this
list was one product of a discussion on protecting and strengthening
herbaria that was organized by Lynn Clark and Alan Prather and took
place at our annual meeting in Mobile in late July.

Maintaining support for herbaria and keeping them relevant in
academia and society has long been problematic, but the pressures
are increasing in the current environment. Most of us who manage
herbaria are challenged with a full roster of duties besides those
directly related to the herbarium, and therefore don't have time to
be full-time fund-raisers, public relations gurus, or field-trip
leaders. Yet to have a successful program, these are among the hats
we are expected to wear.

Because of the increasing pressures on herbaria, ASPT is sponsoring
"HERBARIA", where we can share ideas and experiences relating to
building and sustaining a broad basis of support for herbaria. To
subscribe to the mailing list, go to
<URL:http://scarab.science.oregonstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/herbaria>
If you have any questions or problems subscribing, please contact
the list administrator, Aaron Liston,
listona [at] science__oregonstate__edu

Examples of information to share: If you have recently received
"good press" in your local paper, share your experience with others,
from how you first made contact with the reporter to how the press
was received at your institution. If you need money for a project,
ask the list for options for funding sources. If you have a great
public education program, tell everyone how you did it.

We hope this list will facilitate building upon our success and
making a stronger, more interactive, herbarium community.

Aaron Liston, List Manager
Lucinda McDade, ASPT President
Alan Prather. ASPT Collections Committee Chair

Ann Pinzl
4020 Hobart Road
Carson City, Nevada 89703
USA
775-883-0463


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:34
                Distributed: Thursday, October 16, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-17-34-017
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