Firstly I must apologise for my tardiness in getting the 2024 blog up. I write this at the 2025 meeting (see this year’s blog for details.) 2024 was part written, so let’s travel back in time a year…..
One of the most anticipated few days of some of the Museum Pests working group’s calendar are here…. When we get together in person and get some work done! We are back in New York, this time at the New York University Libraries. And you read that correctly, the Museum Pests Working Group is old enough to buy a beer.
This has been a monstrously productive meeting. Speaking from inside the monitoring group we have reached a point of slight insanity from working so hard.
We came together on the afternoon of March 20th for a tour of the library and some talks. Jessica gave us a fantastic tour of some recently renovated spaces, including the special collections store, reading rooms and their lab. Of course it wouldn’t be a museum pests working group meeting without someone on their knees looking under a cabinet.
After the tours we all got on with the hard work on the website.
The ID group, led by Pat Kelley, have been working on reviewing all images submitted to the pest list in the past year, either adding them to the ID pages or discarding them. There are also plans afoot to improve the pest sheets.
In the monitoring group, led by Genevieve Tocci, we have been working to make foolproof guides to monitoring for the absolute beginner, including diagrams and decision trees. We have a firm plan of work for sevaral years to come.
Adam Osgood’s Solutions group have been reviewing and updating the sections on heat treatments and pesticides, plus making plans to make the solution pages more navigable.
Megan and Sarah’s prevention group worked to review content, fix links and add more links to relevant sections of the website.
Health and safety worked under LIsa’s leadership entirely virtually! The continued the big job of getting all the H&S sheets updated across the website.
Matt was flying solo in the social media group, working on a posting strategy including getting the key messages from the group out to followers.
Rachael and Leon fixed broken links, supported all the tech issues of the group (every year half of have forgotten how everything works…).
All in all another great working group in New York! See you next year somewhere.
Some of the remaining MuseumPests Working Group on the Friday
Less than an hour before someone was on their knees looking under a cabinet!