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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LFL COLLECTION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL

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Backlog Collections-Specimens that have not yet been cataloged are stored and
sufficiently maintained to ensure that they remain adequately preserved and can be located
when needed. If adequate for temporary storage, they are kept in their original containers and
preservative with their original labels (as received). Some backlog collections may be stored
in well-marked boxes rather than on shelves. Backlog collections are periodically inventoried
to verify their continued presence and location.

Access and Use

The LFL Collection is held on behalf of the public and contributors for research,
reference, and educational purposes, but access is controlled to protect sensitive information
and rare specimens, assure appropriate use, and avoid unnecessary losses. All reasonable
requests for non-destructive use of collections will be accommodated within LFL's legal,
physical, and financial constraints, so long as the requesting user agrees to conditions stated
below (Requests for Use) and has not previously violated those conditions. Priority among
multiple requests for the same specimens is determined by the curator, who can request the
early return of a loan to accommodate a subsequent request. Specimens separated from their
original lot by users to serve as individual vouchers for their specimen-specific data are
removed by the curator from the original catalog record and recataloged as a new, but still
linked, lots. Policies regarding destructive use, gifts, and exchanges of LFL holdings are
covered in separate sections below.

Collection Catalog Data-Information in LFL's computer-based collection catalog, a
MUSE database (see "Documentation and Databases" section below), is available in several
forms. The master catalog, which is located at subdirectory I:\LFL\MUSE on the Department
of Fishery and Wildlife Biology local area network (LAN) can be accessed in read-only mode
from any computer connected to the LAN (only authorized LFL staff have access for entering
or editing records). Once in the MUSE subdirectory, the MUSE program is started by first
entering "btr" which starts the Btrieve database engine, then entering "muse". To help
navigate the program and browse or search the database, MUSE provides menus, displays of
some function-key features, and on-line help (pI key). More detailed instructions are
available in a copy of the "MUSE Tutorial and Reference Manual" maintained by the curator.
A printed, limited-field version of the catalog is maintained with the collection and is
available for browsing by LFL visitors. Information on backlog collections must be requested
directly from the curator.
Interested public with access to an Internet-connected computer from anywhere in the
world can browse or search limited-field versions of the catalog through the (yV orld- Wide)
Web or Gopher. To access the LFL and other fish-collection catalogs on the Web, users
should open their Web browser (e.g., Mosaic, NetScape) to the Biodiversity and Biological
Collections Server at http://muse.bio.comell.edu. From there they must select "Ichthyology",
then "Query On-line Fish Database" which takes them to "Fish Searches." Alternatively, they
can open directly to "Fish Searches" at http://muse.bio.comell.edultaxonomy/fishsearch.html.
Once on the "Fish Searches" page, options are: (1) query by example using taxonomy and
geography, (2) query by catalog number or field number, (3) query by species with map-
based output, or (4) query using hierarchical classification (beginning at class or subclass
level and working down to species and individual records). For persons with a Web browser