University of Utah (Utah Museum of Natural History)

The Utah Museum of Natural History will improve environmental conditions of the nonfossil invertebrates collections. Temperature and relative humidity fluctuate substantially in the original purpose-built library of the University of Utah, the 1933 George Thomas Building. Construction of a new facility is on schedule, and the collections move will start once heating, ventilation, and air conditioning commissioning is completed. Specimens will be verified, packed, documented, and transported to the new museum facility and placed in new cabinetry to help create a stable environment. The project will eliminate acidic off-gassing of wooden cabinets (and halt Byne’s disease in the malacology collection); improve human safety by eliminating use of DDT-coated cabinets; reduce pest infestation concerns and generate a stable microclimate with new, sealed cabinetry; and secure the collections in museum-quality locking metal cabinets.