Natural Science Collections Alliance
Our members are part of an international community of museums, botanical gardens, herbariums, universities and other institutions that house natural science collections and utilize them in research, exhibitions, academic and informal science education, and outreach activities.
Two articles published this month highlight the lack of taxonomists worldwide. The January 2011 issue of the journal BioScience includes an article entitled “Recovery Plan for the Endangered Taxonomy Profession.” The article, which appears in the journal’s Professional Biologist column, proposes emphasizing the training of non-professional taxonomists, including parataxonomists, amateurs, and youths, to reverse the […]
Join the NSC Alliance and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections for their fourth annual joint meeting, to be held May 23-28 2011 in San Francisco, California. This year, the meeting will focus on “Sustainable Museums–Sustaining Collections,” and will be hosted by the California Academy of Sciences in their Platinum LEED certified […]
Scientific collections and the institutions that house them are an important part of our nation’s research and education enterprise. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to spread the word about the value of museums. Send a prepared letter at http://capwiz.com/aibs/issues/alert/?alertid=22163501.
On December 22, President Obama signed into law a bill to reauthorize the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The legislation (S. 3984) increases funding authorizations for the agency’s museum services to $38.6 million in fiscal year 2011.  This represents an increase of 14 percent above the fiscal year 2010 funding level. According to […]
The National Governors Association (NGA) and the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) recently released the 2010 Fiscal Survey of the States. As described in the report, the survey “presents aggregate and individual data on the states’ general fund receipts, expenditures, and balances. Although not the totality of state spending, these funds are used […]
CollectionsWeb announces the availability of a research internship in collections-based research. The interns can be housed at any institution in the U.S. and supervised by any appropriate mentor. The purpose of the internships is to train students, create collaborations among museums and labs from different institutions, encourage the development of new tools and foster diversity. […]
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions passed a bill on December 3 to reauthorize the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The legislation, S. 3984, would increase funding authorizations for the agency’s museum services to $38.6 million in fiscal year 2011. This represents an increase of 14 percent about the fiscal […]
A major untapped pool of undiscovered flowering plant species may be natural history collections, according to a paper recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Based on a survey of 3,200 plant species, the study’s authors found that only 16% of species were described within five years of collection; nearly […]
Starting 1 January 2011, natural history specimens shipped via commercial air will no longer be classified as “dangerous goods.â€Â The new policy, issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), also removes a requirement for shippers to be formally trained in how to package scientific specimens; instead the shipper can train themselves. These special provisions, […]
The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) is working to produce practical guidelines to help develop best practices and ethics policies for natural history collections. With this goal, SPNHC is reaching out to museums, universities, and discipline-specific societies to request copies of their best practices and ethics documents. It is from this […]