Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2020 - 11

Society Reports
Sessional Committees
Collections and the Biodiversity Crisis
The Biodiversity Crisis Response Committee held an informational meeting
during the SPNHC 2020 virtual conference. During this meeting, we introduced ourselves and the committee to
SPNHC members, provided updates on
recent activities, and allowed time for
questions and discussion. About 45 people virtually attended the meeting, and
there was much interest in the topic of how the collections
community, and SPNHC as our professional organization, can
and should be involved in addressing the biodiversity crisis.
The committee presented preliminary results of a cross-sector
survey to inform the mandate of the committee. The top five
ranking actions: develop initiatives to ensure critical data
is available to conservation practitioners (68%), advocate
publicly for legislative and policy change to support biodiversity conservation (55%), develop outreach programs to raise
public awareness and encourage personal action (41%), participate in international conservation bodies such as the IUCN
(38%), and encourage personal and professional action of
SPNHC members (24%). The committee has acted on some
of these suggestions already by collaborating with the Legs
& Regs Committee and CETAF (Consortium of European
Taxonomic Facilities) on the development of both societies'
submissions to the review process of the draft monitoring
framework for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework
of the Convention on Biodiversity. These contributions will
be considered for the SBSTTA24 (Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the Convention
on Biological Diversity) meeting in November.
A town hall session is scheduled for October 7, 2020, at 1500
UTC (1100 EDT). During the town hall, we will provide additional information about the committee, hold a roundtable
discussion with invited members of the conservation and
biodiversity communities to consider how to build bridges
between the collections community and other biodiversity
sectors (e.g. conservation policy, research, monitoring, species recovery), and discuss and collectively formulate the
committee's next steps. Mark your calendars! Details will be
provided through NHCOLL-L.
If you are interested in being a member of this committee,
please reach out.
We look forward to seeing you on 7 October!
Respectfully submitted,
Libby Ellwood, Chair

Collection Theft and Security
Monitoring of Collections
This committee is charged with investigating, identifying and developing best
practices for preventive measures that
secure collections; using communication channels to alert the community of
thefts; and to monitor for the recovery
of lost specimens.
We had planned to host a symposium
for the 2020 meeting, but this was
cancelled, and we will attempt to host
a symposium on Theft and Security
Monitoring of Collections at the 2021
meeting in Jacksonville.
At our virtual committee meeting we
had discussions on how other types of
institutions (art museums and libraries)
handle theft and security. We also discussed issues involving
insurance for specimens and how to insure objects with low
monetary values but high replacement costs, by including
staff time and field costs associated with the specimens.
Please feel free to view our working Google document and
make any additions at:
https://docs.google.com/document/
d/1gO6jPFwQ1BQ0hp9Zef_UbTGnUvDzV4klFdJ_SwXMLQA/edit
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Mayer and Rob Zschernitz, Co-chairs

Education
Based on feedback and interest from
several SPNHC members and the
leadership teams from the Professional
Development Committee (PDC) and
the Emerging Professionals Committee
(EPC), the Education Sessional Committee was proposed to the SPNHC
Council, and approved. The goals of the
committee were set as follows:
1.	 Affirm the current committee structures and charges for
EPG and Professional Development, and propose a modified structure, if the committee thinks this is warranted.
2.	 Review SPNHC's contributions to education, both forSeptember 2020 * 11

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gO6jPFwQ1BQ0hp9Zef_UbTGnUvDzV4klFdJ_SwXMLQA/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gO6jPFwQ1BQ0hp9Zef_UbTGnUvDzV4klFdJ_SwXMLQA/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gO6jPFwQ1BQ0hp9Zef_UbTGnUvDzV4klFdJ_SwXMLQA/edit

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2020