Managing Museums

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Managing Museums What I learned at the
Smithsonian Srishti Mohais
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Importance of museums

• Research
• Biodiversity patterns
• Molecular studies
• Historical changes
• Diseases monitoring
• Agriculture/pests

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Importance of museums

• Education
• Academic
• General awareness
• Conservation

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Basic Requirements

• Specimens intact and in good condition
• Accurate identification of specimens
• Broad scope of specimens
• Basic data
• Ancillary data

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Achieving Requirements

• 1. Obtain data/specimens
• Structured field collecting
• Vouchering research specimens
• Donations
• Concerns
• What specimens do we want
• Terms of donations
• Legality of collecting

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Achieving Requirements

• 2. Process specimens
• Collect tissue samples
• Obtain all data
• Identification
• Preparation
• Concerns
• Health safety

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Achieving Requirements

• 3. Store specimens
• Shelves cabinets
• Containers, Alcohol
• Archival conditions
• Climate control
• Pest control
• Concerns
• Continuous monitoring
• Protocols
• Equipment

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Uh Oh!
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Achieving Requirements

• 4. Manage data.
• Data needs to be maintained
• Data needs to be user-friendly
• Data needs to be accessible
• Concerns
• Intellectual Property

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The Way Forward

• Concern
• What specimens do we want?
• Solutions
• Mission
• Scope of collection statement

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The Way Forward

• Concerns
• Terms of donations
• Intellectual Property
• Legality of collecting
• Continuous monitoring
• Protocols for climate and pest control
• Health safety
• Solutions
• Protocols, policies procedure manual.

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Building on a good Foundation

• The museum needs to know
• Who it serves
• What is does
• How it does this
• only then it can be successfully serve
• the needs of this department.

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Thank You!
Questions?