Acquisition And Collection Development And Maintenance Policy

Acquisition and Deletion Policy

The Department of Entomology complies with the institutional Policy Statement on Acquisition, Use, and Deaccessions, approved by the Academy's Science Council on 1 April 1981.

The major stipulations of the policy statement are:

1. Within the Department's areas of interest, species and specimens are accepted with no geographic or taxonomic limitations.

2. Priorities for acquisitions are: first, to enhance the existing areas of taxonomic and geographic strength; second, to broaden the comparative base of established collections; and third, to obtain collections of a general nature within the broad interests of the Academy.

3. Specimens are acquired primarily through field collecting, and also may be gift, bequest, exchange, and purchase.

4. Objects will remain in the collections as long as they retain their physical integrity, authenticity, and relevance for the purposes of the Academy.

5. The Academy normally will not acquire items for subsequent sale but may acquire them for exchange.

6. Specimens will be acquired by the Academy only when they have been obtained in full compliance with laws and regulations of their country of origin, and also with U.S. federal and state laws and regulations, including the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The material must be the legal property of the donor.

7. Collections that involve unnecessary destruction of sites, or decimation of populations having limited numbers or tenuous existence will not knowingly be made by staff members or accepted by the Academy from others.

8. Minimum requirements of preservation and documentation vary from department to department. In Entomology, the conditions for accepting specimens are: standard quality in preservation and preparation, and associated data (minimum: locality, date of capture, and collector's name). Specimens without complete documentation may be accepted for exhibit purposes.

9. The Academy cannot accept specimens on which restrictions are placed that would

(a) prevent effective research use, normal exhibition use, loan, or disposal, and

(b) require that they be kept together (i.e. cannot be incorporated into departmental collections). Permission to deviate from this procedure must receive approval of the Executive Director.

10. No person acting as an Academy employee can give appraisals for any purpose, including the tax-deductible gifts offered to the Academy.

11. No Academy employee can make or expand or revise personal specimen collections in their own discipline while on Academy business, and must avoid even the appearance of competing privately with the Academy.

12. Deaccessioning may take place through (a) gifts and exchanges (exchanges are routine on a small scale in Entomology), (b) disposal (which rarely occurs in the department, though some poorly documented specimens are transferred to a "boneyard" and then donated for teaching purposes and badly damaged specimens may be discarded), or (c) sales (none in Entomology).

Last Update: 6 April 2000