Dear Colleagues and Natural History Collections,
If you are a Curator of a Life Science collection (or a Director who actively manages Life Science collections) in a Natural History Museum or Science Center, please consider taking the anonymous survey below. The brief survey is intended to accumulate baseline data highlighting the success and diverse utility of curator positions for natural history collections in the life sciences. The data will be kept anonymous, with information received being used for summarizing the breadth of success for curator positions with no ties to the individual researcher.
While these data will be used internally, we hope that a publication will also arise, provided we collect a good sample size. Please feel free to also forward this email on to other colleagues, both in the US and abroad.
It is our hope that this data can be used as data-driven evidence in direct support of collections-based research programs. We expect this survey will take 5–10 minutes of your time. It is anonymous and completely voluntary. Participation by curators in full or split positions that meet the criteria of this survey (Natural History Collections in Life Sciences) would be greatly appreciated.
If you agree to be in this study, you will be asked to briefly fill out a 10-question survey about curator productivity in research, funding and teaching. You will not be asked to provide your name or title and the data will be summarized as a group with no direct ties to your program.
To access the anonymous survey, please use the following link by December 20.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SNOMNH
This study has been approved by the University of Oklahoma, Norman Campus IRB.
IRB Number: 3703 Approval date: 11/26/13
The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.
Thank you for your assistance and time!
Sincerely,
Cameron Siler