Improving Access and Storage for the University of Washington Bird Collections

一笔赠款已授予华盛顿大学伯克博物馆在博士的指导下。Rohwer改善鸟类研究收藏的储存和访问。 这笔赠款专门针对伯克博物馆举办的三个显着的收藏品增加可访问性和升级存储条件：1）世界上最大的鸟类展翼收藏，2）独特的海鸟皮收藏，3）世界上第12大鸟类骨骼收藏。伯克博物馆收藏的25,000只展开的翅膀是独一无二的，它支持了几项研究，否则这些研究是不可能的。 然而，在过去15年中，它的快速增长导致了过度拥挤的储存条件，必须加以补救，以确保标本的寿命。同样，许多海鸟皮和许多骨骼收藏品需要重新安置，以确保收藏品的长期安全。这笔赠款将资助20个新的案例，以重新安置和扩大翅膀，海鸟皮肤和骨骼收藏。此外，许多较老的骨骼标本将被转移到档案质量箱，并使用计算机生成的标签重新标记。 后者将要求对收集的所有骨架数据进行数字化和校对。数字数据库现在包含大约9,000个骨架记录，这些记录是从旧博物馆目录和分类账中输入的，但尚未与原始标本标签进行校对。赠款中包括完成骨骼标本数据数字化的资金，这将使伯克能够在互联网上提供鸟类学收藏中的所有数据，包括遗传资源数据。 这将极大地增加各级正规科学研究和非正规教育获得馆藏的机会。此外，这将为参与目前拟议的项目做好准备，该项目将对北美收藏的所有鸟类标本进行地理参考。由于用户群体广泛，因此该赠款的广泛影响是多方面的。 最重要的是加强对收藏品的护理和访问，这些收藏品为国家和国际研究人员，教育工作者和艺术家社区服务，以及华盛顿大学充满活力的本科和高级培训计划-世界首屈一指的研究型大学之一。 由于保存的标本是我们关于过去种群和灭绝谱系的唯一新数据来源，因此改善其长期护理的项目对社会有许多潜在的好处。 例子比比皆是，从发现DDT导致猛禽蛋壳变薄，到记录现在分散的东部草原鸡种群中失去的遗传多样性。 除了原始研究，我们的收藏品还服务于不同的用户社区，包括州和联邦机构、保护团体、野生动物艺术家和雕塑家，以及不断增长的K-12教育推广计划。

A grant has been awarded to the University of Washington Burke Museum under the direction of Dr. S. Rohwer to improve storage and access to the research collection of birds. The grant is specifically targeted at increasing accessibility and upgrading storage conditions for three remarkable collections held by the Burke Museum: 1) the largest collection of avian spread wings in the world, 2) a unique collection of seabird skins and, 3) the 12th largest avian skeleton collection in the world. The collection of 25,000 spread wings at the Burke is unique and has supported several lines of research that would have otherwise been impossible. However, its rapid growth over the past 15 years has led to over-crowded storage conditions, which must be remedied to ensure longevity of the specimens. Similarly, many of the seabird skins and much of the skeleton collection needs re-housing to ensure the long-term safety of the collections. This grant will fund twenty new cases to re-house and expand the wing, seabird skin, and skeleton collections. In addition, many of the older skeleton specimens will be moved to archival quality boxes and re-labeled using computer-generated labels. The latter will require that all of the data from the skeleton collection be digitized and proofed. The digital database now contains about 9,000 skeleton records that were entered from old museum catalogs and ledgers, but have not been proofed to the original specimen labels. Included in the grant are funds to complete the digitization of skeleton specimen data, which will poise the Burke to make all data in the ornithology collection, including genetic resource data, available over the Internet. This will dramatically increase access to the collection for both formal scientific research and informal education at all levels. Additionally, this will prepare the collection for participation in a currently proposed project to geo-reference all avian specimens in North American collections.The broader impact of this grant is multifold, because the community of users is broad. Of greatest importance is the enhanced care of and access to collections that serve a national and international community of researchers, educators, and artists, as well as a vibrant program of undergraduate and advanced training at the University of Washington - one of the world's premier research universities. Because preserved specimens are our sole source of new data about past populations and extinct lineages, projects that improve their long-term care have many potential benefits to society. Examples abound, ranging from discovering that DDT caused eggshell thinning in raptors to documenting lost genetic diversity in the now fragmented eastern populations of Prairie Chickens. Beyond original research, our collections serve a diverse community of users, including state and federal agencies, conservation groups, wildlife artists and sculptors, and a growing program of K-12 educational outreach.