Workshop: FutureProofing Natural History Collections: Creating Sustainable Models for Research Resources; Fall, 2016, New Haven, CT

自然历史博物馆是公众教育和娱乐的宝贵资源。一般公众不太知道，但对美国科学至关重要，它们容纳了数百万个标本和大量数据，研究人员使用这些标本和数据来回答与人类健康、农业、土地管理、保护和国家安全有关的一系列问题。它们共同构成了世界上最大的科学研究设施之一，但这个国家系统的大部分运营费用是由私营和公共的非联邦组织承担的，这些组织在许多情况下都难以支付这些费用。如果博物馆藏品要面对21世纪社会所面临的挑战，就迫切需要发展新的经济运作模式。本次研讨会汇集了自然历史博物馆馆长和藏品工作人员、藏品用户（现有的和潜在的）、可持续发展专家、管理研究专家和未来研究专家等多元化的跨学科小组，讨论以下方面的发展潜力：(1)藏品价值的定量衡量方法；(2)基于切实利益将这种价值转化为对藏品的支持的经济模型。该议程将促进可持续发展的创业方法，鼓励参与者在塑造社会的长期趋势背景下开发各种新的商业模式，以确保自然历史博物馆和藏品的未来。该项目的结果，包括白皮书，将在www.esa.org上提供。

Natural history museums are a treasured resource for public education and enjoyment. Less well-known to the general public, but critically for American science, they house millions of specimens and large quantities of data that are used by researchers to answer a range of questions relating to human health, agriculture, land management, conservation, and national security. Collectively, they form one of the largest scientific research facilities in the world, but the majority of the operating expenses of this national system are born by nonfederal organizations, both private and public, which in many cases struggle to meet these costs. If museum collections are to rise to the challenges facing society in the 21st Century, there is an urgent need to develop new economic models of operation.This workshop brings together a diverse, interdisciplinary group of natural history museum curators and collections staff, collections users (both current and potential), sustainability experts, management research specialists, and future studies experts to discuss the potential for developing (1) quantitative measures of collections value and (2) economic models for translating this value into support for collections, based on tangible benefits. The agenda will foster an entrepreneurial approach to sustainability, encouraging participants to develop a variety of new business models in the context of long-term trends shaping society in order to secure the future of natural history museums and collections. The results of this project, including a white paper, will be available at www.esa.org.