AUBURN UNIVERSITY HERBARIUM (AUA)
LOAN POLICY

    The purpose of this document is to describe the regulations pertaining to the loan of herbarium specimens from the Auburn University Herbarium.  AUA's loan policy follows the suggestions outlined in The Herbarium Handbook, by Forman and Bridson (1989).  Safety and preservation of the herbarium collection is the basis for this policy.

1. Loan requests will be accepted only from institutions with appropriate facilities for storage of herbarium specimens.  Such institutions must accept responsibility for the safe custody and return of the loan.  Loans are not made to individuals.  Use of material by graduate students must be made under the supervision of a major professor.

2. Loan requests should be addressed to the Director: Freeman Herbarium, Auburn University and should include the name of the borrower and a short description of the project.

3. Loans of herbarium specimens are made for a period of one year, with the exception of type specimens that are available for a period of three months.  Renewals may be requested in writing to the Director.  Except for type specimens, loans should be returned in their entirety. Type material must be returned via registered first class mail.  Specimens must be carefully packed to avoid damage in transit.

4. All specimens are to be treated with utmost care thereby conserving them for future studies.  Specimens should remain in their covers except during actual examination.  Normally one to a few sheets of each species will be retained for reference purposes.

5. Herbarium sheets should be returned with the proper annotation label by the investigator.  Each annotation should include, at least, the accepted name of the taxon, name and affiliation of the investigator, date of identification and citation of any resulting publication.  These should be typed or printed in permanent ink (not ball point pen).

6. If you wish to remove material from mounted specimens, you must first receive approval from the Director.  In addition, please note the following rules for any destructive sampling (see Forman and Bridson (1989) for additional recommendations on removal of samples from herbarium material):

  • No material may be removed from type specimens or specimens of historical importance.
  • Suitable loose material may be present in packets, avoiding the need to remove additional parts from a mounted specimen.
  • Pollen should be taken from no more than one flower per sheet being extremely careful not damage the flower.  Follow Forman and Bridson (1989) for selecting anatomical, phyochemical, cytological and seed samples.  Appropriate pages in photocopy will be supplied if not available to you.
  • An annotation label must reflect the portion of plant material removed, date of removal, investigator, institution, place of deposit of prepared slides, photos, and/or GenBank accession number.  Duplicate slides or photos must be deposited with AUA.
  • For DNA studies, the researcher must provide AUA with location and storage method of any leftover sample.  Storage facility must be permanent.  Auburn University Herbarium reserves the right to request DNA or sequence material originally obtained from AUA specimens.
    • 7. Researchers are asked to send the Director reprints of any publications which result from the study of borrowed specimens, to quote AUA in their publication and to assist in filling possible gaps in the herbarium collection at Auburn University by offering duplicates of their own collections.

    Reference:
    FORMAN, L. and D. BRIDSON. 1989. The Herbarium Handbook. Royal Botanic Gardens,  Kew.

    Contact us at  herbari@mail.auburn.edu for any questions about the AUA loan policy
     

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