Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections March 2015 - (Page 36)

Member Profile Member Profile by Ann Pinzl Our members play many different roles from collection management and conservation to databasing and informatics to research and education. Many of our members come from a traditional research background while many of our new members are coming into the field from the museum studies field. Our hope is to introduce our membership to a variety of individuals who are playing very dynamic roles in their museum's activities. We are casting our net broadly and selecting individuals from institutions of all sizes and backgrounds. Snapshot What is your name? Janis Klapecki Janis Klapecki. What is your position? Collections Specialist, Natural History. Where do you work? The Manitoba Museum. How many years have you been working in this capacity? Just over 20 years now. When did you join SPNHC? I've been a member of SPNHC since 1993. In-depth What drew you to the natural history field? Probably, like most of 'us,' it started early with a love of the outdoors and a curiosity of nature - to observe, pick things up, catch things, etc. and wonder about them. Spending time at our family cottage nurtured that. While attending university, I worked summers as a Field Research Assistant with the federal Department of Fisheries & Oceans. With DFO, I was very fortunate to travel to some incredible, remote Manitoba and Ontario locations, gaining experience in collecting techniques for fishes and invertebrates, field "survival" skills, specimen sampling and preservation methods. After university, I worked for the provincial government conducting botanical surveys in bear country.....we have a lot of bears (of 3 species) in Manitoba! I was then hired at The Manitoba Museum to work with the Natural History collections. cluding dry and fluid-preserved. The disciplines include Botany (herbarium, fungi, lichens, bryophytes), Zoology (entomology, non-insect invertebrates, herpetology, ichthyology, ornithology and mammalogy), Paleontology (invertebrate, vertebrate, and botanical), Geology and Mineralogy. Other than fossils, our oldest collections date back to the midnineteenth century and focus geographically on Manitoba and surrounding regions of North America, although we do have some exotics, including an amazing tropical butterfly collection. What are your responsibilities for them? I am responsible for all aspects related to collections management, care, preservation and documentation. Describe some of your activities. As the museum's only NH 'Specialist', I really have to be a generalist. My work is incredibly varied - there's never a typical day. My duties include: specimen cataloguing, labeling, digitization, shelving/filing, IPM, storage, database/documentation management, donations/acquisitions, condition reports, preventive conservation and some treatments, loans/shipping, exhibits, tours, staff and volunteer training, specimen preparation (skins, skeletal, dermestid colony, pinning, pressing, mounting, etc.) and assisting Curators with field collection whenever I can. Describe the nature the collections you work with. What do you find most interesting about your work? I work with the entire Natural History holdings of over 300,000 specimens and/or lots, stored in various media, in- Just being able to work with such important scientific collections on a daily basis. This is really emphasized when I 36 * SPNHC Connection

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections March 2015

From the President
Society Reports
What’s New
Announcements
Calendar
Features
Member Profile
Employment
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Governance

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections March 2015