Manual Implementation & �Collection Management & Curation Course��Webinar 9�Collection storage and organisation�18 May 2022

Welcome and introduction of panelists

Fulufhelo Tambani

Science Communication Officer

Webinar guidelines for engagement

Keep your contributions helpful and considerate of the host and other participants

Chat box: Say hello! Let us know which institution you are from

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Q&A box: Add questions during the webinar. We will be answering some of your questions live at the end of the webinar.

Due to time constraints we might not be able to answer all your questions during the webinar, however answers will be provided to all questions on the webinar link afterwards.

nscf.org.za/resources/collections-management/

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What the webinar covers

As part of the Collection Care and Curation chapter / topic:

1. Standards for storage

• storage environments for collections – storeroom structure, environmental conditions
• storage infrastructure – cabinets, shelving
• storage containers – bottles, boxes, container lining

Procedures / processes will be dealt with in later webinars.

2. Collection organisation

• policy and standards for how collections are organised
• recording the location of specimens

Scientific curation and making taxonomic changes will be dealt with in future webinar

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These would be our main aim for collection storage:

• Collection objects must be protected against unnecessary damage, loss, or alteration that might affect future research potential.
• Every effort must be made to minimise the level of risk facing collection objects as a result of storage and use.

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The 10 agents that can cause deterioration and loss to collection objects. �With permission. © Copyright is owned by ICCROM and the Government of Canada, Canadian Conservation Institute, 2016,

The 10 agents of deterioration and loss

Which of these agents could be addressed by collection storage?

Type your answers in the chat box ….

Multi-layered protection of an object �Source: National Park Service. Museum Handbook, Part I (2012)�

Collection storage areas: policy points

• Collection objects should be stored and displayed only in conditions suitable for their preservation

What does this mean? Collection storage areas must be ….

• A pest-free environment that is climatically controlled to avoid fluctuations in temperature and humidity.
• Used exclusively for storing collections; separate from all other uses, including office space and research and work areas.
• Protected from fire by having appropriate fire protection, detection and control systems that are tested and maintained regularly.
• Secure and structurally sound.
• Wet collections should be kept in a separate room from dry collections.

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Collection storage areas: standards for climate control

• Storeroom structure must be sound – no leaks in roof, rising damp, faulty windows and doors.
• Temperature of store rooms: 16-22°C. Important – stable. Fluctuations can destroy specimens – expand and contract with temperature changes; deterioration happens at high temperatures (pests, evaporation, chemical reactions).
• Humidity control for dry collections (insects, skins, bones, eggs, shells, mounted plants) – 45-55% humidity ideal. Damp and high humidity cause mould which damages and even destroys collections; moisture reacts with various materials to form damaging compounds.
• Air circulation also important for preventing damp and mould but this needs to be part of the climate control system and not through opening windows and doors.
• Temperature and humidity monitoring system set up in storerooms.

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Poll

Answer Yes or No or Uncertain or Not relevant for the following in the collection you are responsible for ….

1. Storeroom has well functioning temperature control

2. Humidity is kept between 45-55%

3. There is an air ventilation system in the storeroom

4. There is a data logger to record temperature

5. There is a data logger to record humidity

Collection storage areas: light, external exposure

• Store room must be kept dark (light damages specimens and fades labels) (could be addressed if specimens are in cabinets that are kept closed).
• Windows should be covered, for example by blinds; uncovered windows contribute to temperature fluctuations and allow light in to storeroom.
• Lights must allow work to be done safely and accurately (need to read labels). Light switches must be outside the storeroom – especially in rooms that have fire risk (ethanol collections).
• Windows and doors must be well sealed and kept closed (prevents pests and dust, climate fluctuations).

Collection storage areas: �Fire detection and control

• Prevention – fire doors at entry to storeroom.
• Smoke detectors – linked to alarm which links to fire department and responsible person.
• Fire suppression systems – for small fires – fire extinguishers available outside the storeroom (appropriate type); for large fires or outside of office times – automatic systems. Water for wet collections; water mist systems; gas for dry collections. Must consider impacts on the collection if the system discharges.

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Poll

Answer Yes or No or Uncertain or Not applicable…

1. The collection storeroom is kept dark unless someone is in there.
2. The storeroom has no windows.
3. The windows in the storeroom have blinds or some other covering that keeps them blocked at all times.
4. Windows and doors are always kept fully closed at all times.
5. There is a fire door leading into the collection.
6. There is a smoke detector in the storeroom.
7. There is an automatic fire suppression system in the storeroom.

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Collection storage area: Security

• Entrance to the building – secured in an appropriate way.
• Access control for collection storerooms – entrance door kept locked or with automated access control.

Storage infrastructure: cabinets and shelves

• Cabinets and shelving – should be metal to limit fire impacts, water damage , easy to clean and don’t give off volatile compounds (VOCs).
• Shelving should have a restraining bar or barrier to prevent specimens falling off shelves.
• Shelves must be strong enough to bear weight of specimens without any buckling; shelves should not be overloaded.
• Cabinets must have a sound, tight door seal.
• If delicate specimens are in drawers they must be cushioned from vibrations; drawers must open smoothly.
• Accessibility of specimens critical for monitoring, care. Should be able to remove a jar / specimen without having to unpack / remove many others.
• Specimens should not be stored directly on the floor – pests, flooding, dust and dirt exposure, risk of damage increased.

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Shelving

Cabinets

Storage containers: wet collections

• Wet collections – containers must be clear glass. Must move away from plastic bottles, jars, vials, buckets, tanks.
• Polypropylene screw-on lids – custom-made to fit Consol glass jars.
• Small wet specimens – in glass vials, with polyester fibre plug, and then several of these in a larger jar.
• Larger specimens – fibreglass tanks, or stainless steel tanks and lids with good seal.
• If plastic is used for large specimen containers, it must be high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bucket or drum that seals well. UV light does cause deterioration of these plastics.

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• Remember: ethanol is corrosive to many common metals and plastics, such as aluminum, zinc, copper, polymers, rubbers, elastomers, glues and sealants that have a dissolved alcohol base.

Storage containers: �Dry collections

Protect from physical damage, dust and dirt build up:

• Dry specimens – place in acid free box nested in acid-free tissue paper or on polyethelene padding.
• Skins – in drawers lined with acid free lining.
• Or in polyethylene foam-lined specimen trays.
• Large skulls, bones, fossils on open shelves should sit on polyethylene padding and have a dust cover.
• Use only archival grade glues / adhesives.
• For pinned collection objects, use only stainless-steel pins.

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A note about plastics

• No PVC plastics must be used for collection storage, these give off chlorine gas that damages the collection objects. They can also cause static electricity which is not good for delicate collection objects.
• There are only three types of plastics that meet preservation standards. Polypropylene, polyethylene and polyester (polyethylene terepthalate commonly called PET film). These can be bought as thick, thin, soft, hard sheets, rolls and foams, Check that any you buy are free of plasticizers, ultraviolet inhibitors, dyes and surface coatings.
• Be careful of putting specimens into plastic bags / covering specimens with plastic if they are not fully dried and the environment is not humidity controlled / unstable.

Storage: Herbarium specimens

• Acid-free, archival quality glue and/or thinly cut strips of archival, pre-gummed linen tape for mounting the object and for attachment of all packets and labels.
• Flowers, fruits, cones stored in acid-free boxes,
• Fragment packets should, ideally, be included on every individual sheet for material that falls off object.
• Sheets holding the same species are stored in lightweight one-fold archival card covers, called ‘species folders’.
• Species of the same genus are stored together in ‘genus folders - thin archival quality card with a spine, slightly larger than the species folders to protect the edges.
• Bryophytes (mosses), fungal collections and lichens should be stored in cotton packets, acid free envelopes or boxes.

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Poll

Tick all of the challenges you have with meeting standards for containers …

1. Wooden shelves
2. Wooden cabinets
3. No restraining border / barrier on shelves
4. Specimens (dry) on open shelves without dust protection
5. No cushioning of specimens on shelves or in drawers or in boxes
6. Plastic bottles / buckets
7. Metal lids on jars
8. Archival quality paper, boxes and/or adhesives not used
9. Specimens on floor
10. Too many herbarium specimens piled on top of each other

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Storage for glass slides

• Store slides flat to prevent slippage and running of the mounting medium.
• Slides should never be stacked on top of each other and should be stored horizontally with the cover slip facing up.

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What if my collection does not meet these standards?

• Do an assessment to see exactly what the challenges / gaps are.
• Do an assessment of what is needed to upgrade the collection so that it meets the storage standards (how many bottles and what size; how many cabinets and what size? What / who would need to be moved? What climate control or fire systems are needed?).
• Do a prioritization plan – list the items from most critical to least critical for the protection of the collection. (how much risk is reduced if it is implemented?)
• This should fit into / be integrated into the Curation Plan, Risk Management Plan.

Collection organisation

The 10 agents that can cause deterioration and loss to collection objects. �With permission. © Copyright is owned by ICCROM and the Government of Canada, Canadian Conservation Institute, 2016,

Collection care – addressing the 10 agents of deterioration and loss

Which of the agents can be addressed by collection organisation?

Collection organisation

• There is no single correct way of organising the collection.
• Collections can be grouped by category – e.g. Marine invertebrates; Aquatic organisms; Wet Arthropod.
• Or by higher taxon – e.g. Entomology; Mammals; Molluscs; Lepidoptera; Bryophytes.
• Depends on the size and structure of institution; collection and staffing; often historical naming of collections.
• Within a collection, alphabetically or phylogenetically by family; within family alphabetically by genus; within genus alphabetically by species; within a species by catalogue number or by country / province / locality alphabetically.
• Some collections – just alphabetically by species.

Some points about collection organisation

• The simpler the system, the easier it is to use and to maintain.
• If too many classification levels are used in the organisation (subfamily, tribe, subgenus etc) it becomes messy when these levels change or species are moved from one taxon to another.
• The main purpose of having a system is to prevent loss of specimens and to save time when you need to find specimens for loans or researchers or put new specimens into the collection.

Updating the collection organisation

• The location of specimens will change with new publications.
• A species can be moved to a different genus, a specimen might move to a different species if the species is split and new species are described.
• Sometimes a whole classification system can be changed.
• Identification of unidentified specimens or re-identifications may also mean that specimens are moved.

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Policy and standards for collection organisation

• The collection organisation system must be documented in the Collection Care Policy or as a separate policy.

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May be as simple as:

• The collection will be organised according to the following system: APGIII (refer to annexure 1 for details).
• Unidentified specimens must be kept separately from identified specimens.
• The location of each specimen in the collection will be recorded in the collection database using the system specified in annexure 2.
• If a specimen is moved in the collection this must be reflected in the specimen database using the workflow / procedure in annexure 3.
• Scientific curation (updating taxonomy, re-identifications) must be done in the collection and in the collection database by the appropriate staff, following the procedure / workflow in annexure 4. (We will deal with this topic in more detail later in the course).

Recording the location of each specimen

• Each specimen / lot needs a unique identifier – whether it’s a barcode or a catalogue number.
• Each layer of protection should have a code or numbering system – building, room, shelf or cabinet, drawer / large jar with smaller vials.
• In the specimen database, the specimen location should reflect building, room, cabinet, shelf / drawer, large jar no. Could be something like - HB-WA-C62-S4. Herbarium Building, Wing A, cabinet no. 62, shelf 4.
• If the specimen is permanently moved this must be reflected in the database, with a note saying from where it was moved, by who and the date and a brief explanation (e.g. after reidentification by G. Smith).
• The system of numbering for location must be clearly documented (annexure 2).

Discussion Forum next week

• Examples of storage systems (compactors, shelving, drawers, containers) from institutions – please send photos that we can compile into a presentation – each contributor will talk to their contribution. Can be good examples or challenges that you are willing to share. We can learn from seeing the full range – the good, the bad and the ugly.
• Collection organisation – anyone who would like to share their collection organisation and how this is recorded / tracked - again can be to highlight good aspects and challenges, can share any major reorganisation of a collection.
• Please send photos for the combined collection storage presentation, or let Michelle know if you want to do a 5 minute presentation on collection organisation.

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Collection Storage and Organisation

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