Tom Strang of the Canadian Conservation Institute puts it well when he
says: "If you're patching holes in your collection objects, you are
patching the wrong holes."

Judith C. Price
Canadian Museum of Nature
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Diane Gutenkauf ([log in to unmask]) writes:
> On 1/23 Patricia Reynolds wrote:
>
>>This is going to be rather un-technical, as I cant remember what they are
> called.  We took one of the big, >blue lights (the kind of lights you see in
> delis and butchers) out of the stores, where they attract and fry >flies, and
> into the staff-room, where the wasps were. This makes a most horrible noise
for
> a minute or >so as the wasp is electricuted.
>
> This type of treatment doesn't address the root of the problem and is just
what
> I was talking about in my rather angry posting of this past weekend. Great,
> you've killed a wasp but you've failed to address how they are entering the
> facility to begin with. You have also failed to deal with the "fall out" of
the
> zapper. What is happening to all those lovely carcasses? Are they providing
food
> for other insects? Insects that are also going to eat collections? What are
the
> wasps eating? What type of wasp? If the wasps are entering your facility what
> else can get in? The control of dangers to our collections and our facilities
> and our buildings is holistic. The only way to erracidate problems is to ask
> basic questions regarding the nature of these problems and treat the cause of
> the problem, not the symptom.
>
> Gutenkauf
> ****************
> My opinions are my own and do not reflect those of any insititution with
which I
> am affiliated