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.
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 […]
Taxonomists are pushing for a large scale mission to find and describe all of the species on the planet. Lead by scientists at Arizona State University, the effort was launched at a recent meeting of taxonomists, informatics experts, ecologists, sociologists, and computer scientists. The meeting was organized by Quentin Wheeler, a member of the NSC […]
Biologists are expressing concern for the preservation and appropriate curation of specimens held in the Museo de Historia Natural of San Marcos University in Lima, Peru. On 19 November 2010, university officials are scheduled to consider plans to develop new space for the university’s graduate school and new facilities for the museum. The problem, according […]