7871

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7871
• Author: Snyder, D. E.
• Title: Preserved Larval and Small-Fish Collections of the Upper Colorado River Basin
• USFW Year: 1996.
• USFW - Doc Type: Maintenance and Cataloging of a Valuable Historical Database - Final Report.
• Copyright Material: NO

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the catalogs of the LFL Collection, NBS Western Biological Surveys Collections, and MSB
might eventually be linked, allowing simultaneous access to data on most cataloged UCRB
specrmens.
Finally, LFL and the curators or managers of other natural-history collections on the
Colorado State University campus are proposing formal University recognition and
budgetary support of campus collections, perhaps under the umbrella of a "University
Museum of Natural History Collections." Although hopeful, none of these efforts have yet
made any real progress towards ensuring permanency of the LFL Collection. LFL will
continue to pursue these and other possibilities.

Larval Fish Laboratory Collection Manual

Appendix II is a draft manual of policies and procedures for the Larval Fish
Laboratory Collection including accessions, cataloging, maintenance, and use. Where
practical, policies follow guidelines recommended by the Association of Systematics
Collections (Hoagland 1994). Curatorial procedures have been established in part through
experience, consultation with curators or managers of other collections, and guidelines and
suggestions in various publications of the Collections Committee of the American Society
of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, including their Curation Newsletter. As of this report,
the manual is still undergoing in-house review. Extensive outside review is planned.

Cataloging Time and Costs

Table 3 documents the time required by our collection assistant to catalog and
handle five sets of backlog UCRB collections. Average times varied considerably
depending on the specific set of collections considered (e.g., 3.6 to 8.5 minutes per lot).
However, if the combined averages for these five sets of collections are considered
representative, the average UCRB collection consists of about 5 species-lots and requires
about 28 minutes to catalog and handle, about 6 minutes per lot. Costs for cataloging
backlog collections depend on the rate billed for such services. Based on mean times in
Table 3 and an updated LFL hourly rate for laboratory technician services (a rate structured
to cover salary and wages, benefits, supervision, and laboratory and university overhead),
average cataloging and handling cost would be $1.95 per lot or $9.13 per collection
(exclusive of materials costs). Considering all collections cataloged as of this report, the
overall average number of lots per collection is actually 4.2 rather than the 4.7 figure in
Table 3; average cost per collection based on this overall figure (and 6 minutes per lot)
would be $8.19.
Using the above figures, it will take about 3,336 man-hours (about 2 full-time years
for one person) and cost about $65,052 for labor to catalog the remaining backlog of
33,360 lots of preserved UCRB specimens. Materials such as label paper, fluids, trays and
museum jars will cost at least an additional $2,000.
Costs are somewhat less for cataloging new collections as they are processed.
Collections and data are at hand and do not need to be "found", containers and
preservatives do not need to be upgraded, and collection handling is reduced. For 1994
through 1996 collections we increased per collection charges for processing by about 5% to
cover the additional costs for cataloging, but this is probably insufficient and will need to
be reconsidered in future contracts.

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