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

LFL COLLECTION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL

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Appropriate remarks are appended to both original and new records to help trace these
changes and note the existence of new user data in LFL Collection files.

Gifts and Exchanges

LFL recognizes that when numerous specimens are available representing a specific
taxon and collecting event or set of collecting events, it may be prudent to transfer some of
those specimens or lots, as gifts or exchanges, to other institutions or organizations
maintaining recognized ichthyological collections. Such transfers should expand the
taxonomic and life-stage coverage of recipient collections and make those specimens more
readily accessible to potential users and students in that collection's locale. Gifts and
exchanges can also ensure survival of some representative taxa and life stages from specific
collecting events or programs should catastrophe befall the contributing collection.
Gifts or exchanges are negotiated on LFL's behalf by the curator. When possible
transfers should be exchanges designed to mutually benefit the diversity of taxa and life
stages held by both collections. Transfers of LFL specimens for which the collectors retain
ultimate authority must be approved by the collecting agencies or researchers. Copies of
associated catalog data and collection files are transferred with the specimens.
Gifts and exchanges are handled in a manner similar to loans and accompanied by
similar invoices. Documents of transfer are maintained in appropriate LFL files and
deaccessions are managed in the LFL Collection Catalog with remarks including the nature of
the transfer, the recipient collection, and it's accession and catalog numbers for the transferred
speCimens.

Documentation and Databases

LFL maintains a computer-based collection catalog and management system for its
cataloged collections and files of collection-related data for both cataloged and backlog
holdings. Collection files include LFL, user, or collector-generated data and images, requests
for use, "Conditions for Collections Use Agreements", loan and transfer invoices, related
correspondence, and copies of or references to pertinent reports and publications for current
and past holdings. Data in those files remain the intellectual property of the researchers or
agencies that generated it; public access to and use of that data prior to it's inclusion in a final
report or formal publication requires source approval. All publication or presentation of data
obtained in LFL Collection files should properly acknowledge both the original source of the
data and the LFL Collection.

Collection Catalog and Management System-Collections are cataloged, updated, and
managed with regard to loans, gifts, exchanges, and deaccessions through LFL's customized
version of the MUSE database management system for natural history collections (Humphries
1994). With National Science Foundation support, MUSE was originally developed for
ichthyological collections by Dr. Julian Humphries and associates (Cornell University) using
Novell's network-compatible Btrieve database engine. However, it has since been adapted for
a wide range of museum collections from vertebrates in general to mammal, bird, herp,
invertebrate, and even botanical collections. MUSE is licensed for over 80 museum and
research collections in North America, South America, and overseas, including many of the