QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF GEOLOGIC COLLECTIONS

In order to plan a program of collection improvement, it is necessary to have detailed documentation of the state of that collection. An efficient way to do this is to develop a series of categories that describe the state of specimens in the collection, and then go through each drawer or cabinet to determine how many specimens or lots fall into each category.

The categories should be kept simple, but be specific enough to provide useful data. There should be between 5 and 10 categories. More categories make the process too time-consuming, and fewer will fail to yield enough detailed information. When developing the categories for assessment, it is also important to factor in the staff time available for this work, and any deadlines that may be involved.

For example, a 5-category system for a geologic collection might contain the following levels: 1 - specimen needs no work (has good labels, good data, records are in database, no conservation issues, well-housed); 2 - specimen is in good condition, has good data, records are in database, but needs new label and/or rehousing; 3 - specimen is in fair to good condition, has data, but records are not in database, needs new label and/or rehousing; may need minor conservation; 4 - specimen needs significant conservation or cleaning, plus databasing, label & rehousing; and 5 - specimen in is poor condition, or has no accompanying data; suitable for deaccession & disposal.

Tests can be done to determine the amount of time it takes to bring specimens in each category up to the ideal level. The times for each are then multiplied by the number of specimens in each category. Added together, this will yield the total time needed to bring the entire collection to the desired level. Staff time can be traslated into dollars using the per/hour pay rate. Supplies needed can be calculated in the same way.

Detailed information obtained through a collection assessment will provide the documentation necessary to justify funding requests, both in-house and to outside agencies. This information will also be useful in collections planning and management.