I. What is the Oregon State Arthropod Collection?

The Oregon State Arthropod Collection (OSAC) holds some 2.5 million or more specimens representing the range of diversity of the world’s terrestrial arthropods, with a focus on the Pacific Northwest. The majority of these specimens are pinned, but there are substantial holdings of slide-mounted and alcohol-preserved materials as well. The largest resource of its kind in the region, OSAC is a public trust representing the efforts of hundreds of systematic entomologists over many decades. Its purpose is to provide a lasting archive of useful knowledge regarding terrestrial arthropods of Oregon and the world. To this end, the goal of OSAC is to make material available for study in a manner consistent with its preservation and the enhancement of its value for posterity. OSAC provides an umbrella of consistent management guidelines for all collections owned or held in trust by the OSU entomology department, including aquatics, mites, the teaching and extension collections, and the Western Forest Insect Collection of the U. S. Forest Service.

In the past, OSAC has been called the OSU Systematic Entomology Laboratory (SEL). The name as been changed to reflect our strength in mites and other non-insect arthropods, and to indicate our predominant position as the largest insect collection in Oregon. The collection should henceforth be referred to as OSAC in all departmental documents, web pages, etc.

OSAC is currently housed in 7 different rooms on four floors of Cordley Hall.

4082: 243 cabinets (main pinned collection [all orders, 219 cabinets], U.S. Forest Service Western Forest Insect Collection [18 Cabinets], other special collections [6 cabinets], aphid slide collection, the systematic reference library and reprint collection.

4000: mite collection (20,000 slides)

1010: alcohol collection (11 cabinets) and miscellaneous backlogged material.

3058: teaching collection (5 cabinets pinned insects; 2 cabinets alcohol material).

3061: teaching collection (1 cabinet and miscellaneous drawers and Schmidt boxes).

2055: extension collection (4 cabinets).

2044: public display materials (2 cabinets and misc. drawers).

In addition, several faculty members independently maintain significant holdings in aquatic insects, forest Lepidoptera, and other groups that will eventually become part of OSAC’s holdings.

II. Governance

The executive management of OSAC is conducted by the director, who oversees the activities of curatorial staff and other collection users. Collection policy is set by the director in consultation with the collections committee (composition of which will be reviewed periodically).

The director is appointed by the departmental chair. Duties of the director are reviewed and evaluation of the director’s performance is conducted periodically by the chair.

The staff of OSAC are those people with official duties associated with one or more of the subsidiary collections. Staff must sign a letter of compliance with this policy statement which will be filed in the departmental office.

Specialists with interest and expertise in particular groups or parts of the collection may be appointed curator in their area of specialty at the discretion of the director. These appointments will be renewed annually.

III. On-Site Users

A. Collection Access

1. All collection users must be familiar with and agree to follow these policies. Users who consistently fail to follow the policies will be denied access.

2. OSAC is a valuable resource, and its security must be a concern of all users. Doors should be kept closed and locked unless the room is in use.

3. Keys to the various collection rooms will be provided at the discretion of the director to staff (OSU faculty and students and volunteer researchers who have official duties in the collection). The privilege of keyed access will be reviewed periodically. Final authority over access to the collection resides with the departmental chair.

4. Other OSAC users will be considered visitors, and may use the collection under the supervision of authorized staff during business hours or by special arrangement with the director. Regular users of the collection should sign up each quarter with the director. A copy of this list will be deposited in the departmental office, and users may obtain access during business hours by obtaining a key from there if other staff are not available.

B. Collection Etiquette

1. Visitors are requested to sign the logbook.

2. No food or drink is allowed in OSAC areas. Messy trash (e. g., candy wrappers, pop cans with residue) should be disposed of outside the collection, to discourage insect pests.

3. Visitors unfamiliar with the arrangement of the collection or the proper handling of specimens or equipment should request assistance from a staff member.

4. Doors must be replaced on insect cabinets as soon as is practical. As few drawers should be removed from cabinets as possible at a given time, and they must be returned promptly. No specimens should be left out of boxes, and no cabinets should be left open overnight.

C. Handling Specimens

1. Visitors must obtain permission from staff before removing drawer lids and handling specimens.

2. Drawers, unit trays or specimens are not to be added or removed from the OSAC without written permission from the director. New material must be formally accessioned before it can be incorporated in the collection (see below).

3. Labels should never be removed from specimens. Specimens should be carefully examined for contextual information (such as locality data or determinations) before they are moved from their location in a drawer, unit tray, or Schmidt box.

4. Knowledgeable visitors are encouraged to curate groups with which they are familiar, upon approval by the director. Determination labels and other paraphernalia will be provided on request.

5. Parts of broken specimens (e. g., loose abdomens) and specimens knocked off points should be reassociated if the association is unequivocal. If there is any question, the parts or disassociated specimens should be discarded. Specimens should never be repaired for aesthetic purposes (with the possible exception of display materials).

6. Specimens may be withdrawn from the research collection for destructive use (e. g., morphological dissection, DNA extraction) at the discretion of the director, upon approval of a formal, written proposal detailing which and how many specimens will be examined. In general, researchers will be encouraged to seek alternate sources of material before taking specimens from the collection. Material that is poorly represented in the collection or will be difficult to obtain in the future will only be made available for destructive use in special circumstances.

D. Teaching Collection

Policies described here apply to the teaching collection, including requirements for accession records and appropriate labels (including an "OSAC Teaching Collection" label). Specimens in the teaching collection may be used in a manner consistent with the educational goals of the university, as long as care is taken to maintain the integrity and organization of holdings. Teachers who consume materials from the teaching collection must replace them and are encouraged to enhance the collection (in accordance with the accession policies).

E. Library Privileges

1. OSAC possesses a valuable library of original reprints, primary monographic texts, identification guides and references. Many of these are also available in the main OSU library. In general, the OSAC library is for internal use within the collection by authorized users.

2. With prior approval of staff, library materials may be signed out for copying, or for overnight use. These should be returned promptly. Users who fail to return library materials may be denied further access, and may cause a restriction of privileges for all.

3. To sign out a book or reprint, write your name, the date, and the author and title of the book in the sign-out record. When you return it, be sure to cross your name off.

F. Proprietary Rights

1. Persons making use of OSAC must cite it as the source of their information in publications and reports.

2. Upon publication, a copy of reports and publications citing OSAC should be sent to the director.

3. Data captured from OSAC (e. g., locality data, host associations) must be made available to OSAC researchers and may be freely disseminated on the OSAC web page at the time of their publication or other dissemination. Agreement on the details of such ventures should be reached between OSAC and researchers prior to conducting studies that may result commerical products.

G. Insect Identification

1. Although OSAC will endeavor to provide resources and services to the OSU community, it cannot guarantee that insects will be identified as a matter of course. Researchers with significant components of insect ID involved in their studies are encouraged to learn to identify the taxa they are interested in themselves, or budget for consultant fees if this is impractical.

2. The Insect ID Clinic is affiliated with OSAC, and outside requests for insect ID should be referred there first.

H. Collection-related Research

1. Researchers conducting collection-based research should maintain active communication with the director and staff of OSAC. Brief written reports may be requested periodically.

2. New research proposals involving collections of insects (either current collection holdings or new material) should follow relevant policies put forth in this document (e. g., deposition of vouchers; appropriate preparation and storage of material). Researchers are encouraged to consult the OSAC director or staff for guidance. The department chair will expect to be provided with evidence that such consultation has occurred before proposals are signed.

IV. Accessions to the Insect Collection

A. General Policies

1. Specimens added to the OSAC originate from staff and student collections, from donations by federal and state agencies, from exchange with other insect collections, and from gifts by private individuals. Due to space and financial limitations, the accession of any specimen by OSAC is subject to the approval of the director.

2. Only freezer-sterilized or fumigated material may be incorporated into OSAC. All material brought into the collection should be inspected by a staff member before it is introduced into any OSAC storage unit or left sitting out.

3. The director retains the right to determine the fate of any incoming material. No material may be collected exclusively for particular subsidiary collections. In general, taxa that are not represented in the main collection will not be used in the teaching or public display collections.

4. Collecting trips that are embarked upon primarily for the purposes of building departmental collections will not receive support from OSU (salary, travel expenses, per diem, or supplies) unless the expedition has been justified to and approved by the director of OSAC committee and the departmental chair.

5. All accessions to the main or subsidiary collections must be logged into OSAC accessions database, giving at least some notion of how many specimens there are, where they are from, what taxa they represent, and what condition they are in. The more detail the better.

6. Specimens incorporated into OSAC must be of high quality. In general, only complete, well-preserved specimens with full label data will be accepted. Staff will offer advice on preparing specimens to meet these criteria. Printed labels are preferable to hand-written labels , particularly for small specimens. Hand-written labels should be written with indelible ink. A typical data label might appear as follows (this could be generated from a laser printer by MS Word, 3 point Arial Narrow):

OREGON: Benton Co. Philomath, Woods Creek 44° 35’ N 123°25’ W 100 m 20 Nov. 1997 UV light leg. AVZ Brower

Top: Same Label, magnified

Above: Actual Size

Note that laser-printed labels should not be used for alcohol-preserved specimens.

7. Specimens from all geographic regions may be incorporated into OSAC. Specimens from Oregon and the Pacific Northwest will have the highest priority, except as noted below.

8. Specimens from localities that are already well-represented in OSAC (e. g. the Corvallis area) will not be added to the collection unless they are of special significance.

9. Mass samples from pitfall traps, malaise traps, black lights etc. will not be accessioned unless they are completely labeled and preserved in a permanent manner. Dry insects must be on pins with individual data labels, and alcohol-preserved material must be in at least 70% EtOH in sealed glass vials or jars with full data labels. OSAC does not guarantee the preservation of accessioned mass-sampled material in perpetuity.

10. Vouchers provide hard evidence of what taxa were studied and allow the reinvestigation of problems in the future. Researchers are strongly encouraged to deposit vouchers of their study organisms in OSAC. These should be prepared in an appropriate manner, with full data labels and determinations. OSAC staff will assist researchers with proper techniques.

11. OSAC is not obliged to provide pins, vials, unit trays, Schmidt boxes, drawers or cabinets to researchers for the deposition of vouchers or any other purpose. Researchers are encouraged to include the costs of these materials in their research funding proposals. The OSAC standard is California Academy of Natural Sciences ("Cal Academy") insect drawers and unit trays.

12. OSAC supplies and storerooms are not to be pilfered or depleted without permission of the director. This includes the wrapping room (4053 Cordley)

13. In general, large donations should be accompanied by some means to house the specimens that meets OSAC standards. We encourage OSU researchers and potential private donors to house their personal collections in drawers and unit trays compatible with OSAC.

14. The goals of scientific research are best met when insect collections are integrated into a single curatorial scheme. Newly accessioned collections will not be maintained as separate integral units unless the director deems that there is a compelling reason to do so.

B. Material from foreign countries

The Lacey Act (1981) states that it is a federal crime to import insect specimens into the U. S. without official permits from the country of origin, or documentation that such permits are not required. It is also a crime to possess material so imported. Accessions to OSAC must be accompanied by copies of relevant documentation, which will be kept on file. OSAC requires donors to deposit a document stating that material to be accessioned was to the best of their knowledge collected and imported to the U. S. in compliance with relevant laws.

C. Endangered and otherwise protected species

Specimens collected illegally under the ESA or any other U. S. law will not be knowingly accessioned into the OSAC. Specimens from protected areas (e. g., national parks) will only be accessioned with prior agreement from the requisite administrative unit. Donated materials must be accompanied by appropriate documentation, which will be kept on file. It is the responsibility of donors and users to draw any problematical specimens to the attention of the director, as soon as they are detected.

D. Appraisals

OSU staff may not appraise private collections for donation to OSAC or elsewhere.

E. Deaccessioning specimens from OSAC

In general, specimens may only be withdrawn by permission of the director. Exceptions include badly damaged specimens, specimens disassociated from their pins, and specimens with poor locality data, which may be discarded at the discretion of curatorial staff. When in doubt, save it -- that’s what insect collections are for. Material deaccessioned from the main collection should be considered for use in the teaching collection before it is thrown away outright. Material may be exchanged or donated to other institutions or to private individuals at the discretion of the director and with appropriate documentation.

F. Dispensation and disposal of non-specimen materials

The director will evaluate donated drawers, cabinets, and other specimen-containing furniture, other equipment, reprints and libraries. Materials useful to OSAC will be retained, and the rest will be sold or given away. Funds from sales will be returned to OSAC accounts.

V. Specimen Loan Policy

1. All loan transactions will be documented in the OSAC loan database.

2. Outgoing loans will be made to researchers in good standing with the collection community. All loans are subject to the director’s written approval. Loans will be for a period of 3 years, and will be renewable by written request to the director. Loans requested by students will be made via their major professors, who will be held responsible for the safe return of the material.

3. Borrowers may retain representative duplicates of OSAC material if they offset the cost to OSAC by determining the remainder of the borrowed material, or by providing other material in exchange. Specific agreements should be made with the director at the time the loan is requested.

4. OSU researchers requesting entomological loans from other institutions should register their request with the OSAC database, so specimens may be tracked. Specimens should be logged in when they arrive, and logged out when they are returned. Copies of loan forms must be filed in the departmental office. All specimens borrowed from other institutions must be individually labeled as such by the borrower.

5. OSU faculty and staff may borrow OSAC drawers for teaching or display only upon the condition that specimens are for viewing through protection of the glass drawer lids, and not for handling. Borrowed drawers must be returned promptly. All such off-site use is subject to approval by the director.

6. OSU faculty, staff and students may borrow material for scientific research on a longer-term basis upon approval of the director. Such material must be formally logged in the database as having been borrowed, and the borrower assumes responsibility for appropriate handling and storage of the loan. Researchers should make arrangements to house borrowed material in a cabinet. In-house loans will be periodically inspected by OSAC staff, and improperly stored material will be returned to the collection, and the borrower’s collection privileges revoked. Examples of improper handling include, specimens stored outside of sealed drawers, specimens on protem boards, specimens with removed labels.

7. Major professors will be held responsible for the loans of their students.

VI. Types

The historical policy has been to deposit primary type material associated with the OSAC at the California Academy of Natural Sciences. Our current policy is to place holotypes there or at other appropriate institutions. (Hatch beetle types were sent to the Smithsonian). Types from foreign localities will be repatriated, when appropriate institutions exist to house them.

Paratypes and other secondary type material are housed in the main collection, curated with the rest of their kind. Paratypes should be identified as such with individual labels.