Natural Sciences Collections Association

The group held two meetings during the year 1995/96: at Oxford University Museum in October 1995 and at the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin in March 1996. Discussions continued to focus mainly on topics identified at the group's first meeting, including: storage systems, pest control, charging for services and facilities, and databases and checklists of the British fauna.

There have been successes in all these areas in agreeing and moving towards common objectives. For instance, insect cabinets of the design recently developed by The Natural History Museum, London have now been ordered by two other member collections of the group and they are being considered by several other museums. Drawer sizes regarded as standard and likely to be purchased in the future are being investigated with a view to developing common specifications and coordinating ordering.

Acquisition policies and the scope for rationalisation of collections and expertise are under active consideration. The group concluded that there is very little scope for rationalisation (between institutions) of current holdings. Any benefits would be far outweighed by the various costs and impediments involved. The real scope for rationalisation between collections lies in future acquisitions. Similar difficulties are envisaged in relation to expertise, mainly because dedicated entomology posts are restricted to a few institutions and only the very largest of these have more than one. This has important implications for the national strategy.

Information exchange now occurs regularly between members of the group. Communication with other managers of insect collections in the UK has been established through reports in The Biology Curator and many personal contacts.