The vertebrate paleontology (VP) collection of the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (OMNH), University of Oklahoma, constitutes a major, international resource of vertebrate fossils, with over 61,000 specimens. The collection is particularly strong in Permian vertebrates, Jurassic dinosaurs, Cretaceous faunas, and Miocene mammals. The core of the collection, amassed during the 1930s-40s, remained largely uncurated and fell into disuse and inaccessibility. In 1987, the institution began a multi-phased program of collection renovation. Two initial phases focused on specimen curation, preparation/restoration, and storage; a third phase, data verification and computerization (including web access to specimens data and images), is in progress. Successful completion of the first two phases has led to a dramatic increase in collection activity and utilization, documented by sharp rises in visiting researchers, outgoing loans, and publications. In 2000, OMNH opened a comprehensive new building with vastly expanded and improved resources for research, exhibits, and education. The resultant expansion of the VP program assures a strong potential for substantially higher utilization in the foreseeable future. However, current collection use is tightly constrained by available storage cabinets. This problem will be addressed through (1) purchase of additional storage equipment and (2) curation of these new acquisitions and rearrangement (decompression) of the collection. Within the context of our overall plan for collection improvement, the proposed project is timed to coordinate with a major, related initiative: specimen inventory and data verification. The recent move of OMNH natural history collections into a single building has brought new standards and concerns in collection management. Existing wooden pallets that hold oversized specimens pose a threat (pest infestation) to other collections now housed in the same facility. We propose to address this issue through replacement of wooden with archival plastic pallets. With the recent hiring of new curators and collection support staff, OMNH is poised to emerge as a major center for research and education in paleobiology. The VP collection is a fundamental resource to this fledgling program and to the biological community in general. Given this environment, demand for use of the collection will continue to increase sharply. Completion of the proposed project will permit proper housing, logical arrangement, and ready access to the entire holdings, thereby permitting us to meet the demands of increased utilization.
