A survival strategy for natural science collections: The role of advocacy

Natural science collections and the specialist staff that work with them provide an important resource for addressing globally important issues, but that message is poorly communicated. In this period of financial depression there is a growing need for advocacy as the sector faces the budget and staffing cuts that can lead to neglect and the loss of collections. At a strategic level collections are best protected through demonstrable use, overt demand, and useful resulting outputs. The contribution of natural science collections to key science policy issues should be used to influence policy makers who affect support for collections. To achieve this, the importance of collections needs to be raised at local, regional and national levels and it falls to natural science collections professionals to make that happen.