Not all users of the S. Here we can see that it is not only the larger and perhaps more important bodies which are concerned with setting standards, but that the smaller professional groups are also making significant steps towards improvements in collections management, although they may not have the same scope to allow an element of flexibility into their schemes. We now turn to documentation as an aspect of collections management and in particular to the work of the Museums Documentation Association.
Good documentation plays a key role in the work of a museum, virtually every aspect of a museum's function depends upon the availability and reliability of this documentation M. As mentioned above, the M. Roberts ; Roberts ; Light and today has links with the international theatre of standards initiatives under the auspices of CIDOC, the international documentation committee of the International Council of Museums Fahy However, the division of the organisation which provided these services is to close and the M.
Training and back-up services are also an important part of the M. Similarly to the M. The first standard setting initiative of the M.
Each museum using the standard thus recorded more or less the same information and the Standard in fact described itself as "the first step towards a national museum data standard" M.
Many museums have attributed improvements in their documentation procedures to the use of the M. The Data Standard is described by the Museums Documentation Association as following a "systematic analytical approach" M. This emphasises the clearly "scientific" element of a system which allows only certain fields of information to be recorded although there is also an element of adaptability, to be discussed below.
It is a minimum standard, developed since , containing twenty procedures for documenting a museum collection, including procedures for loans, acquisitions, cataloguing, disposal, insurance management SPECTRUM Quick Reference , and other areas of collections management. Although there is an obvious need for a scientific approach to such a standard, the M. SPECTRUM allows for an awareness of a multitude of implementations, while at the same time ensuring a reliable and consistent approach which can be built upon in the future M.
The work of the M. As a tool of the standards rather than a standard setting initiative in itself, this aspect will only be discussed briefly.
The use of computers has been seen as an exciting area in the museum world for a number of years and many different systems and programmes have been used in a variety of museums many examples of these are given in Light Computer systems have not always been used wisely and have in some cases caused a number of problems, but have certainly been extremely useful in helping museums to improve their documentation and meet the appropriate standards Ormond The use of computers and certain computer software in this way, in conjunction with the M.
In conclusion, it can be seen that great and often much-needed advances have been made in collections management in recent years. Specialist staff are now being employed Light and it is clear that modern collections management has a distinctly "scientific" element to it, with particular rules to be followed in many areas. The use of computers has also added to this reputation, perhaps.
However, it is also evident that the "rules" set by the various standards for collections management in the United Kingdom are not as rigid as those that you might expect from a true "science. There are also many instances of the standards being flexible and allowing the existence of the "creative" element that is expected from an "art.
However, if a "science" is defined as something "systematic and formulated" and an "art" as something "creative" Oxford English Dictionary I believe that although collections management now veers more towards being a "science" than it did in the past, it contains elements of both "art" and "science" and is neither truly one or the other. Baker, J. Museum Documentation Systems: Developments and Applications.
London: Butterworths. Bean, A. To determine which specimens could be culled is very labour intensive. While the database contains a considerable number of records, we are still a long way from having everything databased. The publication records for each specimen have been added for very few of the specimens.
The many problems associated with removing and destroying 'unnecessary' old specimens from collections will not be easily solved in the near future. In fact the oldest specimens may be the most valuable for some studies. Old museum records provide baseline data about the past species composition of a region. These data can be particularly useful when examining newly degraded habitats.
There is even the potential to use museum specimens of extinct species like the Thylacine the Tasmanian Tiger in research that may one day see this species live again.
In his three weeks of research, supported by a Visiting Collection Fellowship, Dr Ferraris worked on the historic collections made by Dr Francis Day during many years of field work in India and the surrounding region during the s, 70s and 80s. Until Dr Ferraris' visit, the collection was believed to contain of Day's type species.
By detailed research with old records and old specimens, Dr Ferraris 'uncovered' an additional 57 of Day's type species in the Fish Collection, increasing the size of the known Day type collection at the Australian Museum by over fifty percent. These scientifically priceless specimens are now housed in the type collection and are available for research.
Clearly the collections are for long term use, not to be "improved" with periodic clean outs or garage sales. Holotype — The single specimen on which the taxon was based or the single specimen designated as the name-bearing or primary specimen.
Neotype — The specimen designated as the name-bearing type of a nominal species or subspecies for which no holotype, or lectotype, or syntype, or prior neotype is believed to exist. Syntype — Each specimen of a type series of equal rank when no holotype or lectotype has been named.
Type — A term used alone or as part of a compound term used for a kind of specimen or taxon. Type species — The nominal species that is the name-bearing type of a genus or subgenus. Chirotype — This term is sometimes used to refer to type specimens before the manuscript is published. When the paper describing the species is published, the specimens are no longer chirotypes but become true type specimens see above. Plesiotype — This term has been used for a specimen illustrated in a publication.
These are not type specimens. Plesiotype was sometimes used by G. Whitley, one of the most famous of Australian ichthyologists. Whitley worked in the Australian Museum Fish Section from till Topotype — This term has been used for specimens collected from the type locality after the original description of the species.
The Australian Museum natural science collections are over years old. The oldest specimen is a species of duck called a Northern Pintail, Anas acuta , A.
There is even the potential to use Museum specimens of extinct species like the Thylacine the Tasmanian Tiger in research that may one day see this species live again. Museums estimate the distribution of animal, plant and mineral groups by building collections that include information about each specimen, including what species it is, where it was collected, as well as when, how and by whom.
This is used for many purposes ranging from looking at relationships between species, to conservation planning activities such as selecting new areas for National Parks or for development applications. Natural history collection databases that have been made web accessible and integrated with mapping technology - such as Google Maps - make it very easy for people to understand the distribution of a particular species.
All of the known locations from which that species has been collected can be shown on a map. However, the distribution of the species based on this collection data is only an estimate, as it shows just those locations where that species was actually looked for and found. There may be many other places in which a species occurs but has not yet been collected or recorded.
One way to overcome the limitations of collections in estimating a species' distribution is to model its environmental niche the position it occupies in its environment. This involves using existing known locations of a species to define what type of environment that species has already been found in and then suggesting other locations where the same conditions exist.
OZCAM is a web based system for accessing and analysing biodiversity distribution that currently enables access to around 1 million records from museum databases around Australia. OZCAM provides tools for accessing and analysing biodiversity data.
It enables visualisation of data through a map interface and provides analytical tools for helping planners and scientists to investigate biodiversity distribution and explore possible climate change impacts on biodiversity. Speaking of the literature you love, the Bloomsbury writers crop up in your collection repeatedly.
In , the rapper-turned-self parody debuted his first collection , Dw Kanye West. She reassumed slave posture while Couple grabbed two magnetized clamps and a collection of circular magnets from a nearby shelf. It houses more than , bottles of 15, elixirs within its collection valued at 25 million euros in The collection in the Academy I thought much better, but still far enough behind similar galleries in Rome. New technologies and analytical instruments unlock new data types from archived collections.
Scientific Collections International unlocking collections, expanding horizons Learn More. Scientific Collections International unlocking collections, expanding horizons Mission Increase the use and impact of scientific collections for interdisciplinary research and societal benefits. Expand the access, awareness and appreciation of scientific collections.
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