Towards a Sustainable Management of Insect Collections in the U.S. through the Entomological Collections Management Workshop

自然历史藏品是生物标本及其相关信息的储存库。它们记录了地球过去和现在的生物多样性，并保存了科学上的新物种。这些收藏品对生物分类以及更广泛的公共卫生和自然及农业资源的安全和保障做出了宝贵贡献。它们也是监测影响人类状况的环境变化的工具。昆虫标本特别重要，因为昆虫是最多样化和最丰富的动物群体。昆虫在我们的日常生活中无处不在，全世界有100多万种。昆虫收藏品的组织和维护只能通过策展人和收藏经理的专业知识和经验来进行，这些知识和经验在历史上直接从一个策展人或收藏经理传递到下一个，因为没有正式的计划以更广泛，更全面的方式进行。这种代际知识转移在中小型收藏品中尤其突出，占美国所有昆虫收藏品的70%，尽管它们的规模很大，但由于强烈的区域，生态或地理焦点，这些收藏品往往非常有价值。目前，有没有培训计划，在收集管理昆虫收藏，这表明迫切需要制定一个全面的计划，在最佳管理实践的中小型收藏。该项目还将为不同职业阶段和不同规模机构的馆藏管理人员提供急需的网络机会，以互动和分享他们的经验和知识。该奖项支持由昆虫馆藏网络（ECN）和系统学，进化，和生物多样性（SysEB）美国昆虫学会（ESA）的部分。首届研讨会定于2016年7月18日至20日在华盛顿国家自然历史博物馆举行，此后每年继续举办。在为期三天的研讨会上，与会者将接受昆虫学收藏管理主题的实践培训，包括收藏管理政策，标本处理，策展，储存，保护等。该项目将鼓励收藏管理人员和与较小收藏有关的学生参与，因为他们的培训和收藏发展资源较为有限。该研讨会将特别帮助最大和增长最快的学生和早期职业研究人员群体，包括女性，拉丁美洲人，非洲裔美国人和美洲原住民，通过提供专业发展机会，培养出技能更高，技术培训更好的劳动力。本次研讨会的结果将发布在ECN网站http://ecnweb.org/default.asp?上Action=Show_Workshop并于2016年9月23-24日在佛罗里达州奥兰多举行的ECN年会上发表。

Natural history collections are repositories of biological specimens and their associated information. They document Earth's biodiversity in the past, present, and hold species that are new to science. These collections make invaluable contributions to the classification of organisms, and more broadly to public health and safety and security of natural and agricultural resources. They are also tools for monitoring environmental change that affect the human condition. Entomological collections are especially important because insects represent the most diverse and abundant group of animals. Insects are ubiquitous in our everyday lives, with more than a million species worldwide. Insect collections are organized and maintained only through specialized knowledge and experience of curators and collections managers which has historically passed directly from one curator or collection manager to the next since no formal program existed to do this in a broader, more comprehensive fashion. This generational knowledge transfer is especially amplified at small to medium-sized collections, representing ~70% of all insect collections in the U.S. Despite their size, these collections are often extremely valuable because of strong regional, ecological or geographic foci. Currently, there is no training program available in collections management for insect collections, suggesting that an urgent need exists to develop a comprehensive program in best management practices for small to medium-sized collections. Such a program would also provide a much-needed networking opportunity for collections managers at different career stages and at different sized institutions to interact and share their experience and knowledge.This award supports the first Entomological Collections Management Workshop Series, co-sponsored by the Entomological Collections Network (ECN) and the Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity (SysEB) Section of the Entomological Society of America (ESA). The inaugural workshop is scheduled to take place at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, on July 18-20, 2016, and continue annually thereafter. During the three-day workshop, participants will receive hands-on training in entomological collections management topics including collections management policies, specimen handling, curation, storage, conservation and more. This project will encourage participation of collections managers and students associated with smaller collections with more limited resources for training and collection development. This workshop will especially help the largest and fastest growing segment of underserved groups of students and early career researchers, including females, Latinos, African Americans, and Native Americans, by providing opportunities for professional development leading to a higher skilled, technically-trained workforce. The results of this workshop will be posted on the ECN website at http://ecnweb.org/default.asp?Action=Show_Workshop and presented at the ECN annual meeting in Orlando, FL on September 23-24, 2016.