Both the collections in natural history museums, and the methods used to organize information about them vary extensively but some data elements are common to all collections, i.e., institution, catalog number, locality, date, preservation, and taxonomy. At this point similarity ends and with the next complexity level, each discipline must decide what data need to be added in order to make their specimens more meaningful; several societies have already set up minimum data sets to be met by all collections in their discipline. Concerns in this field are leaning today toward collection philosophy and management--what should be included in collections and how should they be organized to adequately answer the researcher's questions? Suggestions include combining basic data with other relevant data for each discipline and then finding new methods of organization and manipulation of these collections for increased question-answering capabilities. Computerized inventory lists are suggested as one method, with eventual national information networks for each discipline also being utilized. (Author/MBR)