§6624 Federal scientific collections

Summary

The Office of Science and Technology Policy must make rules for how federal scientific collections are kept, organized, shared (including online), and saved for the long term. It must work with federal agencies that hold collections and with outside groups that care about them, like state and local agencies, colleges, museums, and similar organizations. The Office must also set up an online clearinghouse that lists what is in federal collections and how to access them. Before any agency gets rid of a collection, it must check the collection’s research value and talk with researchers and other interested people about research uses and possible educational uses, and it must have ways to transfer collections to qualified institutions. The Office must also create common methods for estimating the costs of managing and preserving collections. Scientific collection — physical specimens, living or nonliving, made to support science and kept as long-term research resources, and, when possible, the related data and materials.