Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2017 - 23

Annual Meeting 2018
collections management and data management quarters about
key issues such as Darwin Core, data interoperability, image
management, etc. Tension often arises between the quest for
high-quality standardized data with user-friendly software
tools to support it, and the needs of collections professionals,
who are usually working with time, technical and financial
limitations, to make the best decisions in curating their collections and associated data. We see a great opportunity here
for collections and data specialists to identify the issues and
explore ways to address them in the future.

The Program

The conference program will loosely follow the SPNHC
format, but may be adapted where necessary to accommodate
TDWG program elements. There will also be joint sessions
developed where issues common to both societies may be
explored in more depth. Keynote speeches, themed sessions
including posters, icebreaker and mentor programs, Demo
Camp and side events, as well as workshops covering more
in-depth aspects of the conference and other themes will be
accommodated. Although not yet finalised, it may be that
workshops and some committee meetings will be held on
the weekend before the main conference, with field trips at
the end. These arrangements will be firmed-up as abstracts,
workshops and other submissions are assessed early in the
new calendar year.
There will be plenty of extracurricular activities as well. The
Otago peninsula is famous for its natural history and stunning landscapes, while Dunedin offers many local attractions,
restaurants and bars.

Your Hosts

The Otago Museum was founded in 1868 and will be celebrating its sesquicentenary, or 150th anniversary, in 2018. We
view hosting the conference in 2018 as an important element
of our celebrations for the Museum's anniversary.
The Museum shares the natural, cultural and scientific stories
of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand and the world. Our collection includes over 1.5 million objects and specimens from
around the globe. We use these items to tell our visitors more
about the world - from here in Dunedin to deep space, from
millions of years ago to current research - through galleries,
exhibitions, events and online.

Museum works most closely with the university's departments of Science Communications, Marine Studies, Zoology,
Earth Science, Māori studies and Archaeology.

Conference Venue

The conference will be held in the Castle Street Complex on
the campus of the University of Otago. There are two main
lecture halls, one accommodating up to 320 delegates, and
the larger hall accommodating over 400. Within the immediate vicinity there are several break-out rooms with further
options available if required. All meals, poster sessions and
sponsors/trade stands will be held in the neighbouring Link
centre. The Otago Museum is located across the road from
the Link, less than 100 meters away. Further lecture halls,
break-out rooms, reception and functions venues will be
available here as required.

We have enlisted the support of our neighbours, the University of Otago, who are keen to provide conference venues and
break-out rooms for the conference. The University of Otago
was founded in 1869, and opened in July 1871, with a staff
of just three professors. Today the university has over 20,000
students and is known throughout Australasia for its divisions
of Commerce, Health Sciences, Humanities, and Science. The
September 2017 * 23

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2017