Development of Best Practices in Integrated Pest Management
Christopher A. Norris
Lisa Kronthal Elkin
Why Best Practices For IPM?
• IPM was identified as a need by around 75% of respondents to Heritage Health Index survey, 2005
Heritage Preservation & IMLS, 2005
The IPM Working Group
An ad hoc group of museum professionals dedicated to the development of pest management resources for the general museum community
Then (2000)…
American Museum of Natural History
Canadian Conservation Institute
National Museum of the American Indian
Texas Tech University
Zak Software
Now (2008)…..American Museum of Natural History
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Natural History Museum, London
National Museum of the American Indian
Historic New England National Museum of Natural History
Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale
Canadian Museum of Nature
Smithsonian Museum Support Center
U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology
Milwaukee Public Museum Canadian Conservation Institute
Swedish Museum of Natural History
Artex Fine Art Services, Inc.
New York Historical Society Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Baltimore Museum of Art Applebaum & Himmelstein
Insects Limited, Inc. Harvard University Herbaria Steritech, Inc. Yale University Science Libraries
Upstate History Alliance Zak Software Etc……
Resources
• MuseumPests.net• PestList• Wiki site• Annual Meeting
Five Thematic Areas
• Data Collection• Identification Aids• Treatments• Web Resources• Standards & Best Practices
Standards & Best Practices Subgroup
• Three main areas– Policies– Procedures– Tools
• Activities– Gather available resources from community– Vet resources and make available via web– Develop template documents for policies and procedures
What do we mean by “Standards& Best Practices”?
• Standard: A generally accepted level of attainment for use as a basis of comparison in measuring or judging performance[1]; a codification of technology or procedure developed, tested, peer-reviewed, and published by a professional society or governmental agency; to be adhered to by members and subscribers; generally must be followed closely in attention to its prescribed detail[2]
[1] Merritt, E. 2005. Standards of Stewardship – presentation at the annual meeting of The Association of College and University Museums and Galleries, Bloomington, Indiana, April 30, 2005.
[2] Hathaway, A.W., 1992. Standards, guidelines, and protocols: Keeping our house in order. AEG News, 35(1): 26-28. Cited in Cato et al. (2003), MuseumWise: Workplace Words Defined.
• Best Practices: a technique or methodology that, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result[1]; generally agreed upon but not legislated[2]. Commendable actions and philosophies that successfully solve problems, can be replicated, and demonstrate an awareness of standards[3].
[1] SearchSoftwareQuality.com/definitions[2] Cato et al. (2003), MuseumWise: Workplace Words Defined.[3] Merritt, E. 2005. Standards of Stewardship – presentation at the annual meeting of The Association of College and University Museums and Galleries, Bloomington, Indiana, April 30, 2005.
Defining the Audience
Who are the major players in setting procedures and policy within institutions?– Administration– Building Management– Security & Safety– Vendors (including food services, events, etc.)– Research/Collections– Exhibition & Education– Human Resources
How do we influence these institutional “supergroups” to deliver effective IPM?
• Define the role of each group in IPM• Find an incentive, or incentives• Speak to their needs
• Develop a tool to address this process
► The Grid
The Grid is not a “best practices” document…
But – it does lay out the framework of consultation that is necessary to implement an IPM strategy
And – it provided the groundwork for the Subgroup’s development of best practices documents
To download the Grid….
http://www.museumpests.net/tools/FINAL-S&BPgrid.pdf
Review
• Pulled together a set of 46 institutional IPM documents– 28 policy documents– Also training resources, procedures, etc.
• Reviewed by Subgroup for– Content– General applicability
• 10 policy documents passed by the group– Sought institutional permission– Posted on website
To download sample policies…
• http://www.museumpests.net/resources/sampledocs.html
Minimum Requirements for an IPM Policy
– Introduction– Objective/Scope– Justification– Applicability
• Overall responsibility• Other roles and responsibilities
– Training– Support/Budget– Best Practices– Monitoring– Remedial Action– Documentation– Review/Revision
Policy Template
• Uses the minimum requirements
• Provides guidance notes under each heading
• Notes were based on Grid’s recommendations for framing and targeting content
Minimum Requirements for IPM Procedures
– Introduction– Applicability
• Roles and responsibilities
– Procedure-Specific Information– Monitoring– Documentation– Review/Revision
Seven Procedure Templates
• Who is the IPM plan directed at?• Control of Access• Control of Environment• Housekeeping/Removal of Shelter• Control of Food/Live Plants/Catering• Monitoring/Data Analysis• Treatment
To Download Templates…
• http://www.museumpests.net/tools/templates.htm
The membership of IPM-WG is broad…
• IPM-WG draws from the experiences and expertise of a wide range of individuals and institutions.
• This breadth of input is vital when determining best practices
• In the longer term, it’s also essential for the development of effective standards
This has been a community-led and supported, “grass roots” process…
• IPM-WG is not affiliated with any particular institution or society
• Although AMNH has hosted all the meetings to date, individuals and their institutions meet the costs of attending
• We receive a small amount of sponsorship and our website is hosted by one of the participants, Zak Software
IPM-WG is an open group..
• A general invitation to the meeting is sent out via listservers – anyone from the community who wants to attend can do so
• The work processes are transparent – all documents are posted for comment and review on the Wiki site.
Our goals are practical…
• Throughout the process, our goals have been practical – to develop tools and resources that can be downloaded and used by any institution
IPM-WG may act as a model…
• IPM-WG provides an example of how standards and best practices can be framed in a community-led process that goes across traditional institutional and disciplinary boundaries
• The development of The Grid as a first stage enabled us to frame documents that would speak directly to the major institutional players in any IPM plan. We think this approach is widely applicable to standards and other policy development
Standards or Best Practices?
Standard: A generally accepted level of attainment for use as a basis of comparison in measuring or judging performance; a codification of technology or procedure developed, tested, peer-reviewed, and published by a professional society or governmental agency; to be adhered to by members and subscribers; generally must be followed closely in attention to its prescribed detail
Best Practices: a technique or methodology that, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result[1]; generally agreed upon but not legislated. Commendable actions and philosophies that successfully solve problems, can be replicated, and demonstrate an awareness of standards.
Want to know more?
• To join IPM-WG– Rachael Arenstein: [email protected]
• To learn more about the S&BP subgroup– Derya Golpinar: [email protected]
• To join the Pest list– http://www.museumpests.net/listsignup.asp
• To download this presentation and all other documents mentioned– http://www.museumpests.net/
Acknowledgements
• Rachael Arenstein, Neil Duncan, Richard Monk• All members of IPM-WG and especially S&BP Subgroup Members:
Barbara Brown, Derya Golpinar, T. Rose Holdcraft, Emily Kaplan, Jeremy Jacobs, Gail Joice, Linda Klise, Judith Levinson, Suzanne Ryder, Mike Schwetz, Laura Smyk, Gwen Spicer, Tom Strang, Amber Tarnowski, Paul Wilkinson
• Insects Limited, Steritech, and Zak Software for support of the group and the annual meetings
• AMNH Division of Vertebrate Zoology for hosting the meetings• Alex Wild, University of Arizona, for permission to use insect images
(myrmecos.net)
The End