Fwd: NPS 'Data Mining'

[Richard Jensen]

My advice is to do what Mary Barkworth did.  Let them have access to the
databased part of your collection.  If they expect information from specimens
that have not been entered, let them know that you will be happy to allow NPS
employees to visit your herbarium (museum) and check the labels on the
yet-to-be-cataloged specimens. Or, better yet, if they will agree to underwrite
the costs of hiring an assistant, you will be happy to identify someone to do
that for them.  The vast majority (perhaps all) of us do not have time to do
this on demand.

Michael Vincent wrote:

> Well, many of you think I am over-reacting, and maybe I am.  When I got the
> first request, I sent back a response to Stephanie Slough in which I told
> her our collection was not yet databased, and she replied with a request
> for information on which parks were represented in our collection, even
> though I had told her we were not yet databased.  That's when I started
> feeling pressured to conform.
>
> Maybe I should have just neglected to respond in the first place...
>
> M.A. Vincent
>
> Dr. Michael A. Vincent, Curator
> W.S. Turrell Herbarium (MU)
> Department of Botany
> Miami University
> Oxford, Ohio 45056 USA
>
> TEL:  513-529-2755
> FAX:  513-529-4243
> Email:  Vincenma at muohio.edu

--
Richard J. Jensen              | tel: 574-284-4674
Department of Biology      | fax: 574-284-4716
Saint Mary's College         | e-mail: rjensen at saintmarys.edu
Notre Dame, IN 46556    | http://www.saintmarys.edu/~rjensen