With natural history collections, trying to photograph every object would
take a huge commitment of resources.  We currently have approximately 10
million bugs.  We can't catalog them individually much less photograph each
one.  We, too, are beginning to photograph objects for the catalog.  Our
priorities are - type specimens (holotypes, paratypes, etc.), referenced
specimens, taxa unique to our collections, unusual or rare specimens, and
threatened and endangered species. This will be enough to keep us busy for
quite some time.  After that we can deal with the remaining objects of the
21 million in our collections.  Unlike art or artifact collections, we do
have great numbers of specimens that are similar.  How many of the 1000
Sciurus carolinensis really need to be photographed?

I would agree with your botanis and entomologist on this one.  For those
departments with large collections, I would prioritize, evaluate the impact
on available resources (time of staff to photograph, $ to print photos, $
to store negatives and prints properly, $ to scan images into the catalog,
etc.) and then reprioritize if necessary.

Dr. Elizabeth A. Moore, Curator
Virginia Museum of Natural History
1001 Douglas Avenue
Martinsville, VA  24112
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> From: Zdenka Pospisilova <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Collection image databases
> Date: Wednesday, February 18, 1998 9:11 PM
>
> Hello,
>
> As I head of the Moravian Museum Documentation Centre I was asked to
> write internal guidelines for cataloguing. Being convinced that image of
> the object should be a part of the catalogue I am forcing the curators
> to photograph the objects. Two of our departments are objecting this -
> botany and entomology - they say they are unable to shoot all the
> objects that are coming to their collections, because its too expensive
> and impossible. The botany department aquires about 10.000 items per
> year. Could anybody help me with his, hers experience in that field.
>
>
> Thanks a lot.
>
> Krasimir Damjanov
>
> UNESCO International Summer School of Museology Brno
> http://www.webmuseen.de/ISSOM
>
> or
> mailto: [log in to unmask]
> http://www.fi.muni.cz/mzm