Integrated Pest Management for Cultural Heritage

Prevention – Creating Buy-In

As the person responsible for IPM, wherever it may be, you can create “buy-in” at many levels (above and below you) in order to make your IPM program successful.  One of easiest ways to do this is to collect data and other evidence to ensure everything from funding to the execution of your IPM related policies gains support.  While your focus may be on IPM, recognizing your colleagues’ priorities can help you navigate a compromise towards a common goal.

How can the partners and departments listed below collaborate with you to make your IPM program successful?

Administration

Administrative personnel often hold the keys to funding, approve policies, and can help set examples for all staff.

What is their role and how can they help you promote IPM?
  • Identify IPM as an institutional priority at all levels.
  • Help utilize or develop ties to existing local government resources (e.g. sanitation and health regulations).
  • Allocate funding to get IPM on capital plans for infrastructure/repair, monitoring services, and education.
  • Recognize hidden IPM threat and subsequent costs in events & construction.
  • Allocate funds to support an essential and effective IPM program with measurable results which will also result in saving money for your institution overall.
What evidence can you bring to the table?
  • Examples of preventive measures rather than reactive measures with the potential of saving funds, time, staff hours and risk to collections.
  • Safety Data Sheet (SDS) forms showing toxicity of what may be used already to protect staff health by reduction in pesticide use, allergen exposure, pest borne disease.
  • Evidence that a tight building envelope prevents pest entry and also saves you utility costs (environmental controls).  Photo evidence of building(s) potential entry points. See “Exclusion” subsection.
  • Recognize public relations issues with infestation such as passing pests on to other institutions, health audits, and accreditation.  If possible, connect with other IPM professionals, collection managers, facilities, etc. within your institution or surrounding buildings/institutions to determine IPM risks in your area.
  • Any quantitative data of pest activity you may have.

Building Management (custodial, HVAC, construction, grounds, shipping)

These individuals will be doing the majority of your ground work.  Try to create incentives and positive reinforcements while recognizing what they already do so that you aren’t adding to their current work load.  Acknowledge the staff who do the dirty work; they are the foot soldiers of your institution.

What is their role and how can they help you promote IPM?
  • Custodial personnel are integral to your IPM program.   Without them your IPM program will fail. Beyond their cleaning duties, they can help you by reporting pest sightings.
  • Facilities and Trades – These specialists ensure that your buildings are maintained and functioning properly.  This includes internal temperature and humidity, building seals (interior and exterior), and general care.  Their cooperation with your institution’s existing policies and practices are essential.
  • Shipping and Receiving – Those responsible can be notified of IPM risks involved in bringing any deliveries into the institution. Their vigilance is important.
  • Grounds – They can share valuable information with you regarding seasonal outbreaks, pest activity they observe, and pesticide usage outside that may affect the level of risk to your building.  Knowledge about exterior plant design, choice of plants play an integral role in preventing potential pest activity.
How can you help Building Management help you?
  • Provide materials for them to collect pests, such as resealable plastic bags, small lidded jars, markers.
  • Keep your expectations reasonable.
  • Offer your assistance wherever you can – for example, if an outside contractor is coming in, offer to give them the run down on IPM policy or escort them and point out possible pest risks within the area they are working.
  • Be sensitive – some people may find the discussion about pests difficult or repulsive.
  • Provide training packages showing what staff can do to uphold an effective IPM program with explanations and examples of repercussions if actions are not effective.
  • If it is within your job scope, develop templates of IPM related inclusions for contracts.

Security

Security staff are often the ‘foot soldiers’ of cultural heritage sites. They have access to most, if not all, areas and make frequent checks throughout our buildings’ spaces.

What is their role and how can they help you promote IPM?

Security staff have many responsibilities that already coincide with IPM practices.

  • As vigilant gatekeepers, they are likely to be the first people to notice abnormal environmental conditions, unusual activities, food and drink in collection areas, day or nighttime pest activities, and keeping doors secure and closed.
  • Their role is to alert visitors and staff to fumigation alarms tied to security system alarm panel, freezer alarms.
How can we help Security personnel help us?
  • Provide materials for them to collect pests, such as resealable plastic bags, small lidded jars, markers.
  • Keep your expectations reasonable.
  • Provide training packages showing what staff can do to uphold an effective IPM program with explanations and examples of repercussions if actions are not effective.

External Vendors

Make your IPM policy available to them for viewing and compliance. For working with Pest Management Professionals specifically, see the Working with Pest Management Professionals page.

Collections Management (Registration Department, Collection Managers, Archivists, staff, researchers)

Collection management staff are your potential best allies as it is their primary responsibility to care and preserve the collections.  A successful IPM program is integral to a successful preservation plan. Demonstrating a successful IPM program can help you gain accreditation.  These professionals can report pest related damage of the collection to you in advance of a full scale infestation as well as abnormal environmental conditions.

How do we help those who work with museum collections help us?
  • Provide training packages showing what staff can do to uphold an effective IPM program with explanations and examples of repercussions if actions are not effective.
  • Provide materials for them to collect pests, such as resealable plastic bags, small lidded jars, markers.
  • Keep your expectations reasonable.
  • Include IPM in policies for incoming and outgoing loans, visitor policy, treatments, etc.
  • Encourage reporting of pest activity by those using the collection, including visiting staff, and external researchers.
  • Separate collections storage and work areas from offices or other areas where food and drink are consumed.

Education

These front of house employees bring the visitors into the museum, train docents and volunteers, interact with visitors, and generally act as a welcoming host engaging the public with our collections. Keep in mind that some of their activities will be messy and therefore gaining their support of IPM efforts can be helpful.

What is their role and how can they help you promote IPM?
  • Partner in teaching IPM education.
  • They can maintain a tidy storage room of their supplies.
  • Bring in only clean and dry recyclable materials.
  • Promote staff and volunteer cooperation with IPM policy.
  • They can be an ally for the reduction of pesticide use and poison, since Educators frequently work with children and vulnerable communities.
How do we help those who work in the education department help us?
  • Provide training packages showing what staff can do to uphold an effective IPM program with explanations and examples of repercussions if actions are not effective.
  • Provide materials for them to collect pests, such as resealable plastic bags, small lidded jars, markers.
  • Keep your expectations reasonable.
  • Provide them with sorting bins for clean and dirty recyclables.
  • Encourage the use of designated areas for eating, food or snack storage.

Exhibitions

These professionals regularly come in contact with our collections, design the presentation of the artifacts for the viewing public, and create the casework in which the collection items are displayed.

What is their role and how can they help you promote IPM?
  • Thoughtful casework design can eliminate the access of pests to collection items, such as gasketing between vitrines and pedestals, and closed bottom cases.
  • Create display layout which allows for easy cleaning and limiting inaccessable areas.
How do we help those who work in the exhibitions department help us?
  • Provide training packages showing what staff can do to uphold an effective IPM program with explanations and examples of repercussions if actions are not effective.
  • Provide materials for them to collect pests, such as resealable plastic bags, small lidded jars, markers.
  • Keep your expectations reasonable.
  • Provide them with sorting bins for clean and dirty recyclables.

Human Resources

These professional focus on staff development as part of their job. Knowledge of professional competencies is part of their managing staff hiring and promotion processes.

What is their role and how can they help you promote IPM?
  • As an integral part of onboarding, staff training could occur at orientation (volunteers, interns, students, staff)
  • Promote a positive, safe, and healthy environment.
How do we help those who work in the human resources department help us?
  • Develop explanations on IPM functions and suggest sample IPM related inclusions for job descriptions.
  • Provide information that they can share with staff members. See the Awareness and Training page.

The Downscaled Integrated Pest Management for Small Institutions presentation was given by IPM-WG member Emma Ziraldo from the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts at the 17th MuseumPests Working Group Meeting in 2020. It highlights good and better practices for situations where managing pests could be a challenge because of the lack of budget and designated staff. It also underlines the importance of increasing knowledge and raising awareness of the consequences of pest infestation and provides information about preventive actions to take. The downloadable guide FUNdamentals of Museum IPM by Christa Deacy-Quinn of The Spurlock Museum provides IPM information in a concise, easy-to-understand format. It could be sent via a link in an e-mail to anyone in your institution you’d want on your IPM team.

The Development of Best Practices in Integrated Pest Management presentation given at a special session on best practices held at the 2008 NSCA/SPNHC meeting looks at the work of the IPM-WG in developing best practice documents for IPM. This PowerPoint presentation was created by two former Co-Chairs of the IPM-WG’s Standards & Best Practices committee. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum poster Creating and Maintaining Intra-Museum Partnerships for a Successful Integrated Pest Management Program was presented at the 2006 SPNHC annual meeting in Albuquerque, NM. It examines the education and training program created so that all staff identify themselves as stakeholders and understand role they play in the efficacy of the IPM program and collections care.

This poster presentation Creative Approaches to Pest Management; Engaging Museum Staff and Creating Buy-In by IPM-WG member Abbie Griffiths Kundishora from the Yale Center for British Art was shown at the American Institute for Conservation in 2019. It examples of fun ways to engage staff and build interest and engagement in IPM prevention and monitoring. For more information on institutions and organizations that provide IPM training and education see the Resources – Education & Training section of this site.

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