Loan Policy Statement
Acknowledgement of receipt of specimens. Sign and return museum's copy of invoice upon receipt of specimens; the second copy is for the borrower's files.
Duration of loans. Unless stated otherwise, loans are made for an initial period of 2 years from date of receipt of specimens; primary types are lent for 3 months only. Most loans are renewable on request.
Student loans. Loans initiated by or for study by students, must be cosigned by the major professor and are the responsibility of the major professor.
Third parties. Loans may not be forwarded to another individual or institution without written approval.
Change of address or status. The borrower should notify the curator of any change in address or student status.
Dissection of genitalia. Genitalia or other structures may be dissected if the parts are stored in a generally accepted method for the taxon in question. Primary types may be dissected only with written permission of the curator.
Microscope slides. Slides prepared by the borrower must be clearly labeled so as to be easily associated with other parts of the specimen. Slides must be returned at the same time as other specimen parts, but packed separately to avoid breakage.
Packing. Specimens should be returned in the original insect boxes and packed and shipped to insure their safe return. Vials, microscope slides, and other heavy objects should be packed separately from pinned material. Genitalia vials and large specimens should be appropriately braced with insect pins. A minimum of two inches of packing should surround the specimen box. Appropriate packing methods are described in "Preparation of specimens submitted for identification to the Systematic Entomology Lab, USDA" by Lloyd Knutson, 1976, Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America, vol. 22, no. 2, p. 130.
Return agreement. Specimens should be arranged so that species are clearly separated and recognizable. When practicable, determination labels should be placed on each specimen, but all identifying institutional tags or computer codes not of lasting importance placed on specimens by borrower should be removed. All primary types should be returned separately from other borrowed material, in lots of not more than ten, by registered mail or equally safe means. Please do not ship specimens during December.
Retention of specimens. All primary types and unique specimens must be returned. A reasonable number (up to, but usually not more than, 20%) of duplicates (same sex and data) of specimens identified by the borrower (including paratypes) may be retained by prior arrangement with the curator. Either all the material should be returned with specimens desired or a list of specimens retained accompany the returned loan. We encourage exchanges of material which increase the taxonomic representation of our collections.
Reprints. Copies of all publications based on Snow Museum specimens in whole or in part are requested. When reprints are not available the curator should be notified of the citation of the publication.
Loan renewal/progress report. We request a report of progress and /or a request for loan extension at the end of each loan period. Specimens must be returned promptly when a loan is terminated.
Visits. We encourage entomologists to visit the Snow Museum, conduct research in the collections, and hand-carry specimens borrowed after preliminary sorting.