Loan of material from the
Botanical Museum in Lund

Download the loan conditions as a PDF-file (37 kb)

General
Loans are normally only made to recognized herbaria and institutions with a permanent state listed in Index herbariorum. However, loan requests are dealt with on a case to case basis. The responsibility for safe-keeping and return of the loans falls upon the borrowing institution. Students or researchers not in permanent employment will only receive loans in the name of their supervisors.

Consider first if digital images are sufficient instead of the actual material. Digital images of mainly type material are available at http://www.biomus.lu.se/o.o.i.s/8538. Other specimens or close-ups may be photographed upon request. In the case of major investigations, researchers are encouraged to visit the herbarium to assess the collections at the beginning of the project.

The formal loan requests should be made by the head of the institution or a curator to the Director of LD; Prof. Ingvar Kärnefelt either by email:

ingvar.karnefelt@botmus.lu.se

or by regular mail:

Botanical Museum
Ostra Vallgatan 18
S-223 61 Lund
Sweden

Loan requests should state the name of the workers on those behalf they are made and as detailed information as possible of the taxonomic, nomenclatural and geographic scope of the intended work. A brief description of intended use of the material, e.g. research, flora work etc should be included. If type material is requested, provide basionym and original publication. For loans from the Agardh herbarium, also provide Agardh number if known. If applicable, an outline of any commercial arrangements bearing upon the use of the material shall also be included.

The normal loan period is 12 months, except for type material which is either 3 or 6 months. An extension may be granted upon written request. Loans should preferably be returned in their entirety, but partial returns are accepted.

Use of loan or exchange specimens in projects of a commercial nature requires separate and specific permission. 'Commercial purposes' does not include the sale of research-derived publications that are in the public domain. It does include the sale, or transfer or transmission (other than for public-domain research), of unpublished information (e.g. lists or databases of specimen or taxon attributes) or images, to third parties.

If the project has commercial aspects, please state:

1. the scope of project
2. the parties involved
3. the sources of funding
4. any provisions for intellectual property
5. any provisions for commercial-in-confidence material

We will require separate negotiation and written agreement with all parties before loan or exchange material may be used for commercial purposes. A separate Materials Transfer Agreement is required where commercial development of derivatives of herbarium specimens, and other biological material, is anticipated.

Storage and use
Loans must be stored under secure, protective conditions. The specimens must be treated with care and be kept in suitable cabinets when not in use for safe-keeping from insects or other pests. Sheets or packets should not be bent, folded, or handled in any way likely to cause detriment to the specimens. Except during actual examination, specimens should remain in their original folders or packets. The original folders and packets must be returned with specimens.

No material may be removed from the borrowing institution or permanently from the specimen itself without prior written permission from LD. Transfer of a loan or part of a loan to another institution must be approved from LD in advance and the receiving institution must first sign a new receipt for the loan. Removal for investigation of small parts of specimens is normally permitted when the material is in sufficient quantity and it does not harm the future value of the material. Dissection of type material should not be made unless it is absolutely essential for the investigation. All dissected parts of the material must be returned to LD. If material is to be sampled for chemical or DNA analysis, written prior permission should be obtained from LD. Any DNA sequence data resulting from these samples should be deposited in GenBank (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank/). Please notify LD of the GenBank accession numbers or if available before return of the loan add the information to the annotated slips on the loan specimens.

Annotations and returns
All borrowed specimens shall be annotated. Annotations should be made on signed and dated labels, not on the herbarium sheets. For specimens on herbarium sheets, the labels shall be attached to the sheet, but not obscure the original label. For specimens in envelopes the annotation slips should be put in the envelope. Mind the size of the labels, they should not be unnecessary large (max. 70 x 25 mm/2.7 x 1''). Other labes, such as notes about a specimen being photographed or databased, shall not be attached.

Specimens that cannot be determined or found belonging to a group not treated should be annotated to the extent possible. Where material on a sheet is found to represent two or more collections or taxa, each element should be indicated on the sheet and on the determination slip.

Specimens must be carefully and securely packed in order to avoid damage in transit; using the original packing materials is preferred. If type material is included the shipment must be traceable, i.e. through registered mail or as package.

Herbarium LD must be acknowledged appropriately in any publications or other materials that present results derived from use of the loan specimens.

A copy of any publications resulting from study of loan or exchange material would be appreciated.

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