Compliance with Department of the Interior Requirement- Interior Collections Management System

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
 

November 18, 2015

In Reply Refer To:

8100 (240) P

EMS TRANSMISSION 11/18/2015

Instructional Memorandum No. 2016-017

Expires:  09/30/2019

To:                   All Field Office Officials

           Attention:  All State Cultural and Paleontological Program Leads Bureau of Land Management Curation Facility Curators

From:             Assistant Director, Acting Resources and Planning

Subject:         Compliance with Department of the Interior Requirement – Interior Collections Management System

Program Area: Cultural and Paleontological Resources; Museum Property

Purpose:  The purpose of this Instruction Memorandum (IM) is to request State Cultural and Paleontological Program Leads and BLM Curation Facility Curators to implement the Interior  Collections Museum System (ICMS), per the Office of Acquisition and Property Management (PAM) Museum Property Directives #3 and #18, and to meet requirements for receipt of FY15 and Future DOI-PAM funding allocation for museums.

Policy/Action:  Ensure the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is compliant with the Department of the Interior (DOI) museum inventory requirements per June 16, 2012 memorandum from the Office of Acquisition and Property Management (PAM); Museum Property Directives numbers 3 and 18; and to meet requirements for receipt of Fiscal Year (FY)  2015 DOI-PAM funding allocation for museums.  Cultural-paleontological program leads and curators should assure that recipients of the DOI Museum funding allocations provide the BLM collections catalog records in format required by the DOI-PAM.

Forms:  The BLM curation facilities are expected to comply with the DOI policy. Each state office should provide their BLM non-federal partner museums using DOI funds to catalog the BLM collections with templates to populate with catalog information, and related instructions if the Interior Collections Management System (ICMS) database is not in use. There are four forms, which are attached:

• Archaeology records template (Attachment 1)
• Paleontology record template (Attachment 2)
• Preparing and Submitting Culture Resource Catalog Data for ICMS (Attachment 3)
• Preparing & Submitting Natural History Catalog Data for ICMS (Attachment 4)

Narrative:  As a requirement to receive museum collections funds from the DOI- PAM, all the BLM and non-federal museum partners using these funds to catalog the BLM collections must provide catalog records in a format compatible for import into the ICMS.  Additionally, the ICMS database is available to all museums holding DOI collections free of charge for the DOI collections cataloging, under the current DOI license with the vendor Re: Discovery.

If the ICMS database is not in use at partner museums the attached excel templates may be used to submit records in a format compatible with the ICMS, following the instructions provided.

Reporting:  All records should be submitted to the state cultural or paleontological program leads, who will provide the submitted records to the BLM national curator within three months of individual project completion.  The BLM curators are required to use the ICMS and may submit catalog records directly to the BLM national curator.

Timeframe:  To conform to the timeframe of the DOI-PAM, state cultural and paleontological program leads and BLM curators must submit records to the BLM national curator within three months of individual project completion.

Budget Impacts:  The budget impact is minimal.

Background:  In 2005, the DOI Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget issued a memorandum announcing the development of a single museum collections management system. The DOI Investment Review Board approved development and implementation of the system, ICMS.  The development and implementation of the ICMS was triggered by the need for standardized museum collections documentation, and a single means to collect and aggregate museum collections management data.  Substantial cost savings was also identified, over continued development of divergent Bureau-specific systems.  The DOI-PAM took the lead on developing and implementing the ICMS.

The 2009, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit “Department of the Interior, Museum Collections: Accountability and Preservation” listed as a recommendation (#6) “Complete Department-wide implementation of the ICMS to ensure uniform record-keeping.”  In 2012 the Director, DOI-PAM, issued a memorandum and Directive for DOI Bureaus to implement the ICMS. The BLM Division of Cultural, Paleontological Resources and Tribal Consultation (WO-240) reported to the DOI-PAM in 2012 that BLM was implementing the ICMS in three stages. This IM assists in providing the guidance necessary to complete these stages of the BLM ICMS.  The BLM ICMS stages are summarized as:

Stage 1-  Implementation of ICMS at the BLM-Anasazi Heritage Center.

Stage 2-  Implementation of ICMS at the two additional BLM-administered curation facilities. (Billings Curation Center and National Historic Oregon Trails Interpretive Center)

Stage 3-  Tracking and management of BLM-owned collections held in non-federal curation facilities.

In FY 2015 Congress allocated one million dollars to the DOI to improve the management of scientific and cultural museum collections based on documentation and preservation issues identified in the 2009 OIG report, referenced above.  This allocation to the BLM and non-federal museum partners for cataloging BLM collections has the requirement that the BLM records be provided in the ICMS, or using a template compatible with the ICMS.

State offices will submit the ICMS records to the BLM national curator within three months of individual project completion for projects receiving the DOI-PAM museum funding allocations in FY 2015.

Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: None

Coordination Contact:  Byron Loosle, Division Chief, (202) 912-7240, bloosle@blm.gov

Signed by:                                                       Authenticated by:

Kit Muler                                                        Robert M. Williams

Acting, Assistant Director                              Division of IRM Governance,WO-860

Resources and Planning

4 Attachments

      1 -  Archaeology records template (1 p)

      2 -  Paleontology record template (1 p)

      3 -  Preparing and Submitting Culture Resource Catalog Data for ICMS (4 pp)

      4 -  Preparing & Submitting Natural History Catalog Data for ICMS (4 pp)