Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2016 - 18

Society Reports driven network that supports the mobilization of digital specimen data from vertebrate collections. SCNet has also built a strong relationship with the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS), participated with iDigBio in a digitization workshop at the OBFS 2015 conference, and is participating in an OBFS/iDigBio/SCNet working and interest group focused on collections digitization and collections education. SCNet has represented the interests of small collections on several educational initiatives (e.g., NSF RCN-UBE AIMUP!, Collectionseducation.org, NSF Workshop: 3dNaturalists, and AIBS Workshop: Addressing Biological Informatics Workforce Issues) and participates in the iDigBio Education and Outreach working group. SCNet is also collaborating with the Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA) and the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) in NSCA's and BCoN's efforts to ensure the continued involvement of small collections within the mainstream of the natural history collections community. iDigBio and SCNet were pleased to sponsor a small collections symposium at the SPNHC 2016 conference titled, "Blending the educational resources of small and large collections for training the next generation of museum professionals." Ten speakers from small and large institutions covered a range of topics that included museum-based educational and workforce training initiatives, novel educational or training modules and resources, the involvement of graduate and undergraduate students and early career professionals in collections digitization initiatives, graduate and undergraduate internships and courses focused on experiential learning in collections management and curation, and future directions for natural history museum workforce development. Plans are in development to host another symposium at SPNHC 2017. Respectfully submitted, Anna K. Monfils, SPNHC representative to SCNet Society of Herbarium Curators The Society focuses on promoting the importance of herbaria in teaching, research, and service to the community at large. Members are active in the continued development of regional and/or state-level consortia, and are participating in both regional efforts and the US Virtual Herbarium project. I am currently serving a 3-year term as a Member-at-Large on the Executive Board of SHC as well as being a member of the Membership Committee. I worked with the SHC President to compose a letter on behalf of the Society in response 18 * SPNHC Connection to the news that the NSF Collections in Support of Biological Research program was placed on hiatus in early 2016. The major event for this year was a half-day symposium on herbarium management, sustainability, and visibility, which was held immediately following the Botany2016 meeting. The 2016 meeting was held at Botany2016 in Savannah, Georgia, July 31 - August 3, 2016. Respectfully submitted, Rich Rabeler, SPNHC representative to SHC Society of Vertebrate Paleontology The 75th Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology was hosted October14-17, 2015, in Dallas, Texas, and was attended by numerous SPNHC members. The annual Preparators Session focused on topics related to paleontological collections conservation and care. The 2016 meeting is planned for October 26-29, 2016, in Salt Lake City, and August 2017 in Calgary, Alberta. The SVP wishes to remind SPNHC members that it offers several awards and grants that might have relevance to those interested in paleontology. These include grants to promote student research and fieldwork, like the Estes, Patterson, and Wood awards. The Jackson Student Travel Grant and Scientists from Economically Developing Nations Grant both help support travel to the SVP annual meeting. The Hix Preparators Grant is awarded to advance fossil research, standards, and training in preparation and collections disciplines. Not all of these awards limit eligibility to current members of SVP, check the requirements carefully (http://vertpaleo.org/the-Society/ Awards.aspx). Respectfully submitted, Matthew Brown, SPNHC representative to SVP Taxonomic Databases Working Group The 2015 annual meeting of the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) was held in Nairobi, Kenya, in late September. The theme of the meeting was Applications, Standards and Capacity Building for Sustaining Global Biodiversity, and an archive of the meeting website, which includes the program and links to the abstracts, can be found at http://www.tdwg.org/conference2015/. Highlights included http://www.Collectionseducation.org http://www.connectingtocollections.org/ http://www.vertpaleo.org/the-Society/Awards.aspx http://www.vertpaleo.org/the-Society/Awards.aspx http://www.tdwg.org/conference2015/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2016