Specimen Loans
The UCLA Dickey Collection of Birds and Mammals provides loans of specimens from the research collections for research purposes to qualified researchers at other recognized museums, academic institutions, and governmental agency collections within the United States that have the facilities to properly store loaned specimens. Although loaned specimens are for the use of individual researchers, the loans are made to the institution where they will be housed. We cannot make loans to individuals, commercial organizations, studios, or other private entities. We maintain a teaching collection only for UCLA courses, although loans to other institutions for education and courses will be considered. We do not make specimen loans to institutions outside of the United States due to frequent changes and increasing complexities in the policies of federal agencies.
All loan requests should be made in writing and be submitted on institutional letterhead addressed to the Curator. Letters initially should be submitted to the Collections Manager, and are subject to the approval of the Curator. Requests must contain a brief summary of the research, including objectives of the project, its potential scientific value, proposed use of the material, methods of analysis, and a list of specimens requested by Dickey Collection catalog number. Loans for undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers must be co-signed by the requester’s major professor or lab PI.
Loans are made for a period of one year, subject to renewal. Requests for loan extensions, and for permission to transfer specimens from one institution to another, must be made in writing prior to the expiration of the Loan Agreement. Loan requests are processed in the order that they are received by Collection staff. Although we try to process them as quickly as possible, we ask that researchers submit their request at least one month in advance of when they need the material (longer for international or large loans that require more time and/or permit paperwork). The Collection has a standard moratorium on shipping loans between Thanksgiving and the subsequent New Year.
The borrower must sign and return a copy of the loan invoice to acknowledge safe receipt of specimens. Specimen damage that occurs during transit or subsequent use should be reported immediately. The borrower is liable for damage that occurs during handling of specimens. Unless otherwise requested, domestic loans will be shipped ground via Federal Express or UPS (air for Alaska and Hawaii). Recipients must provide an account number for payment of domestic loans. When specimens are returned to the Collection, they should be shipped in the same container, using the same or a comparable carrier (through which the package can be tracked), and insured for the same value as they were originally sent.
The Collection does not loan type material, specimens stored in the fluid collection, nor any specimens deemed to be at risk of damage during shipping. The Collection generally does not loan specimens from taxa for which we house fewer than five specimens, but this may be considered by the Curator on a case-by-case basis. If a request for a loan of all of our specimens of a given taxon is approved by the Curator, the loan will be shipped in installments, with subsequent installments sent upon successful return of previous installments.
Invasive or otherwise destructive procedures on loaned specimens are not permitted without expressed written permission. Researchers interested in tissue loans or destructive sampling should read those policies carefully before making a request. Removal of hair or skin samples for molecular analyses are considered invasive procedures, and written permission must be obtained in advance. If permission is granted to remove specimen parts (e.g., reproductive organs, stomach contents, parasites, etc.), all of those parts must be labeled with the Dickey Collection catalog number by the researcher and returned with the specimens. Any slide preparations (e.g., SEM stubs, histological, karyological) are to be returned properly labeled.
Additional loan conditions may be outlined on the Specimen Invoice accompanying each loan. The terms of Loan Agreements are subject to change by the Curator. Any such changes will be posted on the Dickey Collection website, and borrowers will be notified.
Permits
Requests from U.S. institutions for specimens (or specimen parts) of species regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture must be accompanied by a copy of a USDA transport permit, issued to the recipient or his/her institution.
All international shipments must be declared to the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service. If permits are not necessary, that should be stated in writing at the time of the request.
Citing Loaned Dickey Collection Specimens in Publications
The Dickey Collection must be acknowledged in any publication that results from use of its specimens. In addition to a general acknowledgement given to the “Dickey Collection of Birds and Mammals, University of California, Los Angeles,” specimens must be cited by the individual museum catalog number in a table or supplementary material. If specimens are uncataloged, it is best to work with a Staff Curator well in advance of publication to obtain official catalog numbers for use in the paper. However, if that is not possible, the specimen citation may refer to a collector or preparator number. A PDF of the publication must be sent to the Collections Manager and Curator.