GA Herbarium Loan Policies The Herbarium of the University of Georgia [GA] is a unit within the Department of Plant Biology (Franklin College of Arts and Sciences) and is affiliated with the Georgia Museum of Natural History. All provide support for the daily operation of the herbarium. 1. Loans are ordinarily made to institutions and not to individuals. The borrowing herbarium has the responsibility for the secure custody and proper return of the specimens. Specimens may not be removed from the institution to which they were loaned without prior permission and appropriate paperwork. 2. Requests for loans must be signed by the curator or director of the requesting institution; e-mail loan requests are acceptable. Requests should include: the name(s) of the researcher(s); the title, nature, and scope of the investigation; and a complete list of taxa (with synonyms) or specific specimens with GA catalog numbers. 3. Loans are made for a specified period (usually two years); if the material is needed for further study, an extension of the loan interval must be requested. 4. All specimens must be stored in airtight herbarium cabinets with proper fumigation. 5. Specimens should be handled with care necessary to preserve them for future study. Do not bend, fold, or turn sheets face down. Place all fragments in packets on the sheets. Do not attach non-archival materials (such as metal paper clips, removable cellophane tape, and post-it notes) to the sheets. Do not store the sheets in contact with non-archival packing materials such as newspapers; the acidic content of non-acid-free materials will migrate to the specimens and accelerate their deterioration. 6. The judicious dissection of specimens is normally permitted. All dissected portions and fragments, including permanent micro-preparations, must be placed in a suitable envelope attached to the herbarium sheet. 7. No material of the specimens may be removed for destructive analysis purposes such as SEM, DNA, palynological and anatomical studies without prior permission from the Curator. Requests for destructive analysis should accompany a loan request and detail the proposed procedures and the specimens/materials required. Permission is granted on a case-by-case basis and granted only when a signed "GA Herbarium Destructive Sampling Agreement" is returned by the investigator. 8. All borrowed material should be annotated as fully as possible by the investigator. Do not write on the specimen sheet, specimen label, or someone else's annotation slip. A proper annotation slip is composed of 100% cotton, acid-free paper scripted with permanent ink (hand- or printed). Do not use ballpoint pen, felt-tip pen, or pencil (all impermanent). The annotation slip should be attached to the herbarium sheet in a blank space as near as possible to the original label or most recent annotation. A white glue, DucoCement or any other permanent glue should be used to attach the annotation slip. The information on an annotation slip should include (at least) the accepted name of the specimen, the investigator name, his/her institution, and date; additional comments (e.g., name of project, notes on the specimen) are also welcome. See https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/herbarium/methods/annotations/ for details on specimen annotations. 9. Please return the specimens in our original packing material (unless severely damaged) prepared as they were originally sent. 10. University of Georgia specimens should be cited with the accepted herbarium acronym "GA" in all publications. Please inform us of all publications that use/cite our specimens. We appreciate receiving reprints of papers based on GA specimens; these are deposited in the herbarium library. Download PDF Here
