I have found a lot of success in framing IPM and staff involvement as an ask for help in protecting the collections (and helping me in my work). My institution rents out office space to other entities and I have done presentations for both groups and try to meet with their new staff to discuss what the rules are and how it helps. I also include a tour of the collection storage spaces in the discussion, which helps show what they are protecting and I hope makes people feel special and involved in the process. I find the harder to keep in line group is actually the staff in my institution, who frankly I need the support from more. Its just about correcting and thanking people when you see them correcting the public or reporting pests etc. At some point I should do a presentation for my institutions staff.
I also send out quarterly emails with the information from pest rounds (including graphs) and discuss what is being done to remedy any issues (generally extra cleaning). It gives management the ability to see what I am doing, but also reinforces the need for the management plan with everyone and I use it as an opportunity to thank people for their assistance and highlight responses to reports. I would also highlight how it will reduce work for your maintenance team as they are spending less time cleaning spaces and individual spills. Much of the groundskeeping is also part of good fire safety, which most people tend to understand more easily. Depending on what type of plants you are looking at, it can also be part of security and safety, like if there are large bushes that someone could hide behind. So look at how you can tie it into more widely understood preventive concerns. There is also a financial benefit of preventing pest infestations, as they are expensive, particularly if you have to hire a pest control expert to get rid of them, or damage to a significant artifact occurs and you have to pay for conservation treatments. Regards, Jill Baron Conservator Cree Cultural Institute On Saturday, June 29, 2024 at 7:05:02 a.m. UTC-4 li...@lisanilsenkulturvard.se wrote: > Hello, > I follow this posting with great interest, thanks for bringing it up. > > When I give talks to museum staff on IPM, I try to emphasize two things: > > 1. History > In the old days, people were very aware of pests and the damage they could > cause. They would put blankets and quilts in the sauna and elevate the > temperature. They would store wax candles in special wooden jars to prevent > mice from eating them. Etcetera. For museums, this is interesting, a part > of history where people did what they could to protect their possessions. > IPM is, as of course all you PestList people know, in many ways bringing > old methods back, but it may be news to other departments. > > 2. Pests in homes > People buy things on the Internet. With the cardboard boxes comes the grey > silverfish. People travel a lot and get insects in their houses when they > unpack. When I mention this in my presentations, and how to prevent it, I > can see how the audience really perks up. It gives them a better > understanding for routines at the workplace. > > Lisa Nilsen > > Lisa Nilsen Kulturvård AB > Stockholm > Sweden > > > Den 28 juni 2024 18:23:32 +02:00, skrev 'Josie Sneed-Gilliam' via > MuseumPests <pest...@googlegroups.com>: > > Hello all, > > Our museum staff has an understanding of IPM but the rest of the staff in > the complex and guests are not always held to that standard. I recently > took on responsibility for IPM at my institution and was asked for > recommendations to reduce the pests. I plan to include collaboration with > other departments and stricter expectations for our guests. Often, there is > a rather lax approach to allowing food and drink in and around the > galleries. There are also other concerns like the storage of old cardboard > and landscaping along exterior walls. I'm worried about how to approach > these issues. In order to achieve actual change, I'm going to have to > disrupt many years of relaxed rules and bad habits. I was wondering if > anyone could speak to collaborating with departments effectively and > amicably when it comes to IPM implementation. I would appreciate any > advice. Thanks very much. > > Josie Sneed-Gilliam > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MuseumPests" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to pestlist+u...@googlegroups.com. > > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/BL3PR02MB893987983684363D1D46323DD5D02%40BL3PR02MB8939.namprd02.prod.outlook.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/BL3PR02MB893987983684363D1D46323DD5D02%40BL3PR02MB8939.namprd02.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/a8f658ff-6de5-4712-a1a5-ecf1044258a9n%40googlegroups.com.
