American Malacological Society 1999
Workshop for Amateurs.
7 July 1999, Pittsburgh, PA

As a reminder to those in Conch-L land, the American Malacological Society
(formerly the American Malacological Union) will be holding its annual
meeting on July 4th to 8th in Pittsburgh, PA.  As part of its outreach to
the amateur community, it is hosting a workshop on topics of interest to
amateur malacologists and conchologists.  For those not interested in
attending the whole meeting, the workshop will be held on Wed. July 7th.
The announcement for the Workshop follows as does the website address
where you can find out more information about the meeting in general and
get a registration form.
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On July 7th. There will be a workshop during the American Malacological
Societies 1999 meeting to address issues of importance to the amateur
shell enthusiast as well as the professional malacologists that interact
with them.  The speakers
are a varied group but all have roots as amateurs or are professionals
that have a strong interest in helping the amateur community.  For those
of you on the Conch-L discussion group, many of the names will already be
familiar.

Charlie Sturm, a research associate at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh
will start off by discussing the archival practices used in modern day
collections.  What material is available and where to obtain it will be
covered.  Learn what is new in inks, paper and the archival nature of
computer printers and long term electronic storage of information.  That
bane of collectors, Bynes Disease, and ways to combat it will be covered.
Since Charlie also collects Cenozoic molluscan fossils, some aspects that
pertain to these specimens will also be touched on.  The emphasis will be
on applying these techniques to the private collection.

Gary Rosenberg, Curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences in
Philadelphia, will be presenting the ins and outs on database
construction.  How to construct a database for your shell
collection, using Access, Paradox, FileMaker or other commercially
available packages. Choosing the right fields and structure for your
needs, printing
labels and catalogue pages, adding images. Backup systems.  Bring your
questions and ask a master database designer how to do it.

Jose Leal, Curator of the Bailey-Matthews Museum in Sanibel will be
speaking on amatuer-professional relationships.  Jose will discuss ways in
which the amateur can help the professional malacologist and what the
professional can do to help others to get more satisfaction out of being
an amateur malacologist.  How to get people interested in malacology, club
participation and volunteering for museums will also be covered.


Tim Pearce, Curator of Malacology at the Delaware Museum of Natural
History will also be participating in this information fest.  Tim will be
speaking on how amateur collections can be incorporated into a museum
collection.  He will discuss aspect that need to be addressed so as to get
the most out of the donation for both parties.  He will also speak on what
help the curator and collection manager can provide the amateur to help
curate their collections prior to a donation.  Also to be covered are the
problems associated with museums accepting materials on the CITIS List,
and other endangered and threatened species.

Kevin Cummings, Research Scientist for the Illinois Natural History
Survey, will be on hand to tell us all there is to know about those pesky
Unionids.  To most of us they are only green or brown clams found in
freshwater.  Kevin will set us straight.  Kevin will discuss how to
collect unionids and what the general, that is legal and conservation
issues, are that impact on collecting these mollusks.  Kevin will also
review some of the literature that is available for identifying these
shells and how to maintain a collection of freshwater mussels.  This will
be a good introduction for anyone signing up for the field trip on Friday,
July 9th.  This trip, led by Art Bogan, will visit sites in Southwestern
Pennsylvania where unionids can be found.  Space for this trip is limited
so those interested should sign up now.

The last speaker, well known to most of us, will be Dick Petit.  Dick will
be speaking
on the breath of the literature in malacology.  If you do not know who
Sherborn is or what the Zoological Record is useful for, this discussion
will be for you. The discussion will review some of the main journals,
books, and series in malacology.  Bring your questions dealing with the
malacological literature and Dick will help you out.

After the "formal presentations" the speakers will be available for a
round table discussion on topics brought up by the participants in the
workshop.

A few hours after the end of this session the AMS evening session will
begin.  There are several book dealers that are expected to be displaying
their stock.  Also, the Annual AMS Auction will be held at this time.
Books, art work and shell related items (but no shells) will be auctioned
off.  It should be an exciting time for all.

If you have any further questions please visit the AMS website,
(http://erato.acnatsci.org/ams/), or contact me at [log in to unmask]

Charles F. Sturm, Jr.
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Charlie
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Charlie Sturm, Jr
Research Associate - Section of Invertebrate Zoology
                     Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA
Assistant Professor - Family Medicine

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