The Transformative Power of Student-Led Natural History Collections Clubs

Abstract

Many colleges and universities maintain herbaria or natural history collections. Natural History Collections Clubs (NHCCs) are registered student organizations (RSOs) capable of improving conditions in these collections, many of which are threatened by a lack of funding, minimal curatorial staff, and inadequate institutional support. Student involvement through NHCCs can improve conditions in collections at academic institutions by providing volunteers, promoting outreach, increasing funding, and generating enthusiasm in administration, students, and the community. In this paper, we explain the need for such organizations, outline the process of establishing an NHCC, and provide case studies from successful organizations. We also describe a developing network for NHCCs and summarize what has been accomplished by these organizations to date.

The Ouellet-Robert Entomological Collection: new electronic resources and perspectives

“…Natural history collections are unique educational resources (Cook et al 2014) and venues for public engagement (Ballard et al 2017). Students from the entomology and insect systematics courses taught at the Université de Montréal contribute to the collection as part of their course activities; a student-led natural history collection club (Gerdes et al 2017), "Club QMOR", participates in collection curation on a biweekly basis; a Facebook page and blog (where entomology students publish species pages: http://qmor.umontreal.ca) maintain a social media presence for the collection. An upcoming guidebook to the insects of Québec includes 2300 species, almost all of which are presented with high-quality photographs of Ouellet-Robert Entomological Collection specimens.…”