Handbook on natural history collections management
A collaborative Swiss perspective
Written by and for persons curating, preparing or managing natural history collections, this handbook intends to make existing knowledge easily available and transferable. It gathers specific actions relevant for the conservation of natural history objects, the coordinated digitisation of associated data and the development of a modern digital infrastructure. This handbook should facilitate the long-term utilisation of Swiss natural history collections data for science and society.
Swiss natural history museums, botanical gardens, universities and other institutions for higher education collectively maintain collections with over 60 million specimens of animals, fungi, plants, rocks and fossils. To speed up, harmonise and better coordinate their digitisation, the SwissCollNet initiative was established by the Swiss Academy of Sciences and the Swiss collection-holding institutions.
This handbook is one of SwissCollNet’s first achievment to advance the exchange of knowledge on object and data management among Swiss collections. It contains instructions to modernise natural history collections of preserved biological materials and geological samples developed by experts and collections managers from across Swiss collection-holding institutions.
Publishing house: Swiss Academy of Sciences
Pages: 184
Standard identifier: ISSN (print) 2297-8275 / DOI: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4316839
Source: Frick H, Greeff M (2021) Handbook on natural history collections management – A collaborative Swiss perspective. Swiss Academies Communications 16 (2)
Further editions of Swiss Academies Communications
- Strategy for natural history collections in Switzerland
- Advancing Professional Competence through International Collaborative Internships and Applied Research Programs
- Ethical guidelines for animal experiments
- Roles of Scientists in Sustainability Transformations
- Richtwerte und Qualitätskriterien für Biodiversität im Siedlungsraum
Contact
SCNAT
Swiss natural history collections network (SwissCollNet)
House of Academies
Laupenstrasse 7
3008 Bern
Switzerland