Summary
How natural history specimens are collected and used has changed over time, and collections continue to be irreplaceable resources for research. Museological theory explains why specimens in collections have value and meaning, which has implications for how collections should be managed. The theory of musealization explains what happens when a specimen is added to a collection and then continues to acquire information as it is named, cataloged, studied, exhibited, and documented, all of which increase the amount of information associated with a specimen indefinitely. Musealization is the basis of two current concepts about the role of collections in scientific research, museomics (the analytical use biomolecules from museum specimen) and the extended specimen (how individual specimens are connected to diverse physical, digital, and contextual information to make quantitative datasets useful in many areas of research). Musealization and the extended specimen in research explain why it is important to continue collecting, documenting, and preserving specimens and samples in the Col·leccions Biològiques Marines de Referència-ICM.
Brief biography
John E. Simmons (BS, Systematics & Ecology, MA, Museum Studies) has conducted herpetological field research throughout Latin America and Thailand. He was previously collection manager at the California Academy of Sciences (1977-1981) and the Biodiversity Institute at the University of Kansas (1981-2007), where he also served as director of the Museum Studies Program. He is a past board member of the Association of Registrars and Collection Specialists (ARCS) and a recipient of the Carolyn Rose Award for Outstanding Commitment to Natural History Collections and Management from the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (2011). His most recent books are Foundations of Museum Studies: Evolving Systems of Knowledge (2nd edition 2025) and Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive Reference (2nd edition, 2005). Simmons currently consults, teaches, and conducts museological workshops. He is a Research Associate of the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum at Penn State University, and a U.S. Fulbright Senior Scholar at ICM-CSIC.