Guidelines for Requesting and Granting Laboratory and Instructional Loans
Loan requests must be made to the curator of the relevant collection. Curatorial contacts are listed
below. The loan request must be approved by the curator before specimens are loaned. It is the
responsibility of collection curators to judge the validity of the loan request, the credentials of the
requestor, and the condition under which specimens will be used; they reserve the right to refuse loan
requests. Staff members may not grant loans from a collection without the permission of the curator or
adjunct curator of that collection.
Submitting and Granting Specimen Loan Requests for courses or research
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Specimen Loan Requests
 Must be made to the Curator of the collection or to the Registrar as early as possible. It is
best if requests are made no less than ten working days before the date that the loan is
desired; insufficient notice may result in denial of the loan. The requestor will be contacted
and promptly informed of the decision.
 Must be as detailed as possible. The UWZM database should be consulted prior to
submission of specimen requests in order to verify museum holdings. Not all museum
specimens are available for teaching laboratories; the Curator of the collection will make the
final determination on specimen requests. Rare, extinct, very old, historically significant,
fragile, and oversized specimens will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Laboratory Room (Noland 443) Requests
 Requests for laboratory use of Noland room 443 must be made prior to the start of the
semester. Priority is given to those courses which use laboratory room 443 on a regular
schedule. The laboratory calendar will be finalized the week before classes begin. All other
uses of 443 are granted on a first-come, first-served basis, when the space is available.
Note: Separate Specimen Requests and Laboratory Room (Noland 443) Requests must be made,
but they will be evaluated simultaneously – granting of some specimen requests will be dependent
upon the availability of room 443 for their use.
Loan Agreement and Responsibility
Specimen Care
 All specimens will be pulled from and returned to the collections by museum staff and,
unless an agreement is made otherwise, museum staff will arrange the laboratory. Specimens
should not be handled by students. If specimens must be moved, packed, or arranged,
professors, instructors or TAs are required to handle specimens.
 Borrowers agree to care for specimens on loan from the UWZM according to accepted
professional museum standards. Specimens should be used and stored in a climate-controlled
area in a museum environment with limited fluctuation (approximately 70 degrees Fahrenheit
and 50% relative humidity), and specimens must be stored in a locked area with limited
access.
All specimens should be inspected by the borrower upon arrival or placement in the laboratory. If
damage is noted, it must be immediately reported to the Museum Registrar, who will consult with the
appropriate curator to take appropriate action. Specimens will be inspected by museum staff upon return.
Any new, unreported damage to specimens will be considered negligence by the borrower and may
affect future loans. A claim may be filed with the Department of Risk Management.
Museum Contact Information
Curator of Collections: Noland Room 471 / 608-890-1790
 Osteology, Ichthyology, Herpetology, Paleontology, Malacology, Aquatic Invertebrates and
Historical Objects
Curator of Mammals and Birds: Noland Room 453 / 608-265-3429
 Mammalogy and Ornithology – Skins, skulls, mounts and reproductive histology
Museum Registrar: Noland Room 407 / 608-262-3766
 Library resources and management of loan transportation and files
Note: If the staff member to whom you should send your request is unclear, or your request involves
specimens from multiple collections, please direct your application to the Curator of Collections.