Development of Best Practices in Integrated Pest Management

Christopher A. Norris and Lisa Kronthal Elkin

American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024

The Integrated Pest Management Working Group (IPM-WG) was set up in 2002 as an ad hoc group of museum professionals dedicated to the development of pest management resources for the general museum community. Through its Standards and Best Practices Subgroup, IPM-WG has been evaluating pest management policies and procedures from a variety of cultural institutions with a view to developing policy and procedural templates that can be employed in the development of integrated pest management programs. In pursuing this goal, the Subgroup first considered the mechanisms by which standards and best practices in pest management could be developed and used. This information was distilled into an easy-to-use grid format for distribution to the community. Using the grid as a basis for evaluation, the group reviewed a wide range of pest management documents, drawing out critical elements for inclusion in template documents and vetting suitable examples for distribution via the museumpests.net website. The process adopted by IPM-WG, involving critical review by a group drawn from a range of institutions and professions within the cultural heritage community, allows the grid and template documents to act as outlines of best practice in the development of pest management programs.