Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2016 - 4

President Report - Linda S. Ford New Beginnings Alongside the obvious goals of natural history museums, such as the care, conservation, and digitization of our collections, there are more subtle but equally important challenges, like our role as stewards of history in the promotion of progressive change in the world. Thus, it was right in step that this year's 31st Annual Meeting of SPNHC in Berlin, Germany, advocated the theme of "Green Museum: How to Practice What We Preach?" reminding us all that as we battle pests, environmental conditions and other threatening issues to our collections, we also need to be aware of our footprint on matters outside our museums. This thought-provoking meeting topic was hosted by The Museum für Naturkunde and the Botanischer Garten and Botanisches Museum Berlin from June 20-25, 2016. The local committee for the meeting, chaired by Christiane Quaisser, did a remarkable job of presenting this challenging topic as well as other current symposia, including an international conversation on mobilizing natural history collections data, setting global and local digitization priorities, and research infrastructure framework for bio-collections. In addition, the conference was held in parallel with the 2nd International Conference on Biodiversity Biobanking of the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN). Many of the symposia and other conference proceedings were recorded by iDigBio and can be found at https://www.idigbio.org/ wiki/index.php/SPNHC_2016_Recordings. One responsibility of a global society is to track its own progress in accomplishing all of its goals in order to know whether its desired and actual effects match. With the work and insight of the past SPNHC Presidents, we can seriously examine this issue through the accomplishments of the SPNHC Strategic Plan, which was finalized in 2013 with an estimated timeline of 5 years. This plan consists of ambitious and far-reaching goals fit for a society that is continuing to make its mark in the natural history community and beyond. The plan is organized in terms of four major goals (with smaller well-defined goals expressed in short, medium and long-term attainability): showing leadership in defining and developing our profession; communicating the activities of the Society from membership to the general public; utilizing the Society's limited financial resources for the most efficient and broadest effect; and, working internationally to further the goals of the Society. As we hit the half-way mark of the strategic plan, it's time to see how we are doing. A white paper documenting the deliverables for all the strategic plan goals was initiated by the Long-Range Planning Committee, whereby all SPNHC committees will be able to document how their achievements line up against the stated goals. I'm happy to report that, in the first round of this information gathering, the SPNHC committees have been doing a spectacular job in achieving their goals by producing tangible products that assist and inform our members, stakeholders and the general public. In addition, the society has established more interdisciplinary and international links and working relationships than ever before. SPNHC's international presence has increased through annual meetings held in Wales (2014) and Germany (2016), and a future conference scheduled for New Zealand (2018). Strong relationships were forged with stake holders, other organizations and sister societies in the natural history collections community through established MOUs and a joint NSF RCN submittal (BCoN), laying a solid foundation for even more collaborations and future joint projects. All of these monumental accomplishments within SPNHC have been achieved through the hard work and dedicated leadership of the Past Presidents, Executive Council, and past and present Committee Chairs, all of whom deserve a great debt of gratitude. "It's a very exhilarating time to be part of SPNHC. Through the continued dedication of our members, we are seeing an impact in areas outside of our museums, nationally and globally" The successful international meeting had around 300 registered participants from 31 countries. This attendance from all around the globe was a positive and satisfying reminder that our Society has come a long way in the last 31 years from its start as a predominantly North American group. SPNHC's goal of inclusion was further reaffirmed this year in the society's commitment to Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), including a statement of this commitment in our meeting document, "Policies and Guidelines for Planning and Conducting Annual Meetings of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections," which is the master plan that local committees follow when organizing our annual meetings. 4 * SPNHC Connection In fact, at this year's meeting, we recognized several of our members with special awards: David Pinniger (Carolyn Rose Award), and the Local Organizing Committee for SPNHC https://www.naturkundemuseum.berlin/en https://www.naturkundemuseum.berlin/en https://www.bgbm.org/en/museum https://www.bgbm.org/en/museum http://www.ggbn.org/ggbn_portal/ http://www.ggbn.org/ggbn_portal/ https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/SPNHC_2016_Recordings https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/SPNHC_2016_Recordings https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/SPNHC_2016_Recordings

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