What is the Integrated Pest Management Working Group (IPM-WG)?
The Integrated Pest Management Working Group, is a group of collection managers, conservators, entomologists and other professionals interested in issues surrounding the implementation of integrated pest management in museums and other collection-holding institutions.
Who is involved in the IPM-WG?
To date, the IPM-WG has members from institutions across the United States as well as participants from Canada and the United Kingdom and Europe. Staff from the following institutions have been or are currently involved: American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and National Museum of Natural History, Canadian Conservation Institute, Canadian Museum of Nature, Natural History Museum London, Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, Denver Museum of Science and Nature, US Army Heritage and Education Center, Historic New England, Milwaukee Public Museum, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Harvard University Herbaria,
Baltimore Museum of Art,
Lower East Side Tenement Museum,
Yale University, Sterling Memorial Library,
Upstate History Alliance, and others. We have also enjoyed the support and participation of Insects Limited and Steritech and their members.
What are the goals and activities of the IPM-WG?
This group does not teach IPM, participants are expected to already be familiar with general IPM principals. Instead, the IPM-WG focuses on providing resources to make it easier for the broader museum community to develop and implement their own IPM programs. The goal of the group is to promote and facilitate good IPM practices and collaboration between staff and institutions through the development and on-line distribution of training materials and other resources.
When does the IPM-WG meet?
The group meets on an ad-hoc basis. For the past three years the meetings have been held annually in February hosted by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
What does it cost to attend the IPM-WG meeting?
At present there is no cost for attending the meeting. Participants are responsible though for all other expenses such as travel, meals and accommodations.
How did the IPM-WG start?
The IPM-WG grew out of a collaboration between staff at the American Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of the American Indian focused on expanding a database developed by AMNH to track and map pest observations. Staff working on this project were aware that other museum professionals were also attempting to address concerns relating to implementing museum IPM programs. A desire to expand the collaboration to include these other institutions fueled the first Working Group meeting which was held in 2002.
What has the IPM-WG accomplished to date?
The Working Group has accomplished the following:
- Creation of this website, www.MuseumPests.net, which acts as the central point of dissemination and communication for the group and, hopefully, a central clearing house for IPM information for the museum community at large.
- Creation and maintenance of PestList, an e-mail discussion group that provides a forum for discussion of IPM-related topics. To join the list click here.
- Z-Pest Standard, a free downloadable pest management database available on this website under Tools.
- A questionnaire that surveyed the museum community to determine what areas of development were most needed. To access the questionnaire, click here.
How do I get involved?
Although it is strongly encouraged that members of the IPM-WG attend the annual meeting, budgets and work schedules do not always allow for travel. It is possible to become a member without attending the Working Group meetings. Participants are encouraged to become members of two sub-group committees and will be expected to carry out between 10-20 hours of work on IPM-WG projects annually. The Sub-Group committees are as follows (click on the committee name to learn more about the particular goals and activities of the group):
How can I submit material to be posted on museumpests.net?
If you would like to submit material to be posted for the community on the museumpests.net website please send a digital copy of the document to the webmaster by clicking here. The webmaster will forward the material to the appropriate sub-group chair who will contact you regarding your submission. In order to post material, a release form (available by clicking here) must be signed by the appropriate officer from your institution and submitted to IPM-WG.
If you have an IPM related announcement of interest to the community please click here to send the information to the webmaster.
If you corrections or additions to the bibliography or web resources pages please click here.
Acknowledgements
Participants of the IPM-WG owe thanks to the American Museum of Natural History for hosting the group and providing staff support of this project for the greater good of the museum community. Thanks must also be given to Leon Zak of ZAK Software, Inc. (www.zaks.com) who graciously hosts the web site, manages the IPM mailing list and who created the ZPest Standard database available as a free download on this site.
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