WORKING TOWARDS STANDARDIZATION: A SURVEY OF CURATION PROCEDURES IN INVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY COLLECTIONS

Invertebrate Paleontology collections are one of the most important resources available to paleontologists. They serve as vast repositories of data on invertebrate fossils, including potential data for future paleontological research. Collections are essential resources whose care and curation need to be documented. Published guidelines for the curation of collections are in place, but there has not been a consensus as to how to establish best-practice standards. Setting standards will lead to consistency in the curation, organization, and use of all invertebrate paleontology collections, but standards cannot be set without a clear understanding of how the current curation practices vary.

Based on a survey of curation procedures in 23 invertebrate paleontology collections there are four major areas of concern that need to be addressed to make standardization of collections possible: data capture and uncurated backlogs; type organization; secondary type designations; and preventative conservation practices. A comparison of collection procedures in other collection disciplines was useful in finding innovative solutions to common problems. Invertebrate paleontology collections need to work together to address shared issues and look to other collection disciplines as a means to work toward standardization and bridge the gaps between the disciplines.