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, peerreviewed, 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: rachaelarenstein@hotmail.com
• To learn more about the S&BP subgroup
– Derya Golpinar: dgolpinar@tenement.org
• 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