CSBR: Natural History: Compact Mobile Storage Retrofit, Electrical to Mechanical, Missouri Botanical Garden

该奖项是为了改善密苏里植物园植物标本馆约250万份植物标本的物理访问，将目前由电力/电机驱动的部分紧凑存储范围转换为手动/机械驱动。密苏里植物园植物标本馆成立于1859年，收藏了来自世界各地的蕨类、针叶树、开花植物和苔藓植物标本，超过660万份，是美国同类标本第二大的收藏，也是世界上最大的收藏之一。植物标本室是一个主要的全球植物保存库和植物信息研究资源，可供世界各地的科学家、学生、政府和非政府机构以及公众使用。植物标本馆的标本记录了地球上植物生命的多样性，可以用来回答与物种多样性、遗传学、生态学、环境变化、农学和人类对植物的其他用途有关的许多基本问题。对标本属性及其相关数据的分析，以及来自其他来源的信息，可以为这些问题提供解决方案，但前提是标本得到妥善保管和可获取。最终，植物标本室资源的利用将使人们更好地了解世界上丰富的植物遗产，并发展必要的知识基础，以保护和利用这种多样性，为未来的社会利益服务。该项目将把雷曼大厦的10个电动/电机驱动的压实机系列改造为手动/机械驱动。经过四十多年的连续服务，运行可靠性的日益缺乏以及寻找零件和维修的困难严重影响了用户对馆藏的访问。这是一个严重而紧迫的问题，因为每年有数百名员工、学生和访问研究人员每周7天、每天24小时都可以访问植物标本馆的藏品。该项目的完成将立即提高压实机系统的可靠性和易用性，并将大大减少未来的维护问题。转换为手动系统将涉及用装有手摇曲柄和齿轮链驱动系统的新面板替换压实机单元的端板。虽然这个项目是一个相对基本的基础设施改造，但其结果将对所有咨询植物标本馆收藏的人产生真正的影响和利益。它将允许用户更有效地利用他们的时间，简单，畅通无阻地访问集合的所有部分。基础设施的改善延续了植物园的长期承诺，即提供安全可靠的途径来获取其保护下的标本。有关密苏里植物园及其科学和保护计划的更多信息可在线咨询（www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/）。

This award is made to improve physical access to approximately 2.5 million herbarium specimens in the Herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden by converting the portion of the current compact storage ranges that are electrical/motor-drive to manual/mechanical-drive. The Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium, established in 1859, contains over 6.6 million specimens of ferns, conifers, flowering plants and mosses from around the globe, making it the second largest collection of its kind in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The Herbarium is a major global repository of preserved plants and a research resource of botanical information accessible to a world-wide community of scientists, students, governmental and non-governmental agencies and the general public. The specimens contained in the herbarium document the variety of plant life on Earth and can be used to answer a multitude of fundamental questions related to species diversity, genetics, ecology, environmental change, agronomy and other uses of plants by people. Analysis of specimen attributes and their associated data, as well as information from other sources, can provide solutions to these problems but only if the specimens are cared for and accessible. Ultimately, the use of herbarium resources will lead to a better understanding of the world's rich botanical heritage and to the development of the knowledge base necessary to conserve and use that diversity for societal benefit into the future.This project will retrofit the ten electrical/motor-drive compactor ranges in the Lehmann Building to manual/mechanical-drive. After more than forty years of continuous service, the increasing lack of operational reliability and the difficulty in finding parts and making repairs is significantly impacting access to the collection by users. This is a serious and urgent problem since access to the herbarium collection is available 24 hours per day, seven days a week for hundreds of staff, students and visiting researchers each year. Completion of this project will immediately improve the reliability and ease of use of the compactor system, and will significantly reduce future maintenance issues. The conversion to a manual system will involve replacing the end panels of the compactor units with new panels fitted with a hand crank and a gear and chain-drive system. Although this project is a relatively fundamental infrastructure modification, the results will have a real impact and benefit for all who consult the herbarium collection. It will allow users to utilize their time more efficiently with simple, unimpeded access to all parts of the collection. This infrastructure improvement continues the Garden's long-term commitment to provide safe and reliable access to the specimens under its care. Additional information on the Missouri Botanical Garden and its science and conservation programs may be consulted online (www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/).