Pelagic Invertebrate Collection Loan Policy

Loan Policy (Abbreviated Version)

Legitimate requests for examination of specimens for the purposes of research, exhibition, or education are generally honored through loans to qualified individuals and institutions. Students may obtain loans if their major professors or sponsoring institutions assume full responsibility. The Curator must approve all loans.

Loans must be supported by an invoice or outgoing package record which records all elements of the transaction and the condition of specimens being loaned. Loans are normally made for a period of 6 months. Extensions may be granted upon written request from the loan recipient. The Pelagic Invertebrate Collection of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego is to be acknowledged in any publication or report arising from use of collection specimens. A copy of each publication or report resulting from loaned materials should be deposited in the Collection's library as a condition of the loan.

No materials loaned by the Pelagic Invertebrate Collection (PIC) can be loaned to another individual or institution other than the designated borrower without prior written authorization from the collection Curator. Loaned materials are intended for research purposes only and will not be used for commercial purposes such as screening, production or sale, for which a commercialization license may be required.

Holotypes and paratypes of any new species described from PIC holdings are to be deposited in the PIC in La Jolla, unless other arrangements have been approved in advance by the Curator.

Loans may be subject to additional special conditions at the discretion of the Curator.

Destructive Research Use

Any destructive use of collection specimens (including dissection, extraction, digestion, combustion, or other procedure that alters the physical state of the specimens) must be authorized in advance by the collection Curator. A proposal is to be submitted to the Curator describing the purpose of the analysis, the number of specimens required, the availability of alternate techniques to obtain comparable information, and the researcher's qualifications and ability to perform the analysis. Such proposals will be honored only when the research requirements are deemed compelling and a sufficient number of intact specimens remain in the collection such that future research will not be compromised.