Efforts made in inventarization, contemporary presentation and protection of the Varaždin Grammar School Natural Science Collection

Pošto je Prirodopisna zbirka varaždinske Gimnazije jedna od najstarijih i najbogatijih školskih zbirki čiji počeci sežu u 20-te godine XIX. stoljeća pa sadrži i muzeološki zanimljiv materijal, školska radionica «Prošlost za budućnost» i školska Biološka grupa poduzele su aktivnosti potrebne za njezinu obradu, uređivanje i zaštitu. U periodu 2002.-2005. godine zajedničkim zalaganjem napravljena je nova inventarizacija cjelokupnog sadržaja Zbirke, istražena je njezina povijest, njezine su vrijednosti sustavno predstavljene u javnosti, poduzete su mjere za čuvanje i zaštitu tih vrijednosti od propadanja i uništavanja i sastavljeni informatički programi za praktično korištenje sadržaja Zbirke u suvremenom nastavnom procesu. Cjelokupan prikupljeni, obrađeni i sistematizirani materijal obuhvaćen je pretraživačem sadržaja Prirodopisne zbirke i pretraživačem knjižnice biološkog kabineta koji znatno olakšavaju korištenje i snalaženje u sadržaju ove bogate zbirke, dok su za njezino predstavljanje u javnosti napravljene odgovarajuće PowerPoint prezentacije. Kako bi se sva ova pomagala mogla što masovnije koristiti, a sadržaj Zbirke predstavljati u širim krugovima, ovi pomoćni programi pohranjeni su na jedinstvenom CD-u Prirodopisne zbirke varaždinske Gimnazije. Pod vodstvom troje profesora, čitav ovaj projekt ostvarilo je 70-ak učenika članova spomenutih školskih grupa, oslanjajući se pri radu prvenstveno na vlastito znanje koje su tijekom rada nastavili proširivati i obogaćivati. Po završetku ovog projekta bitno su poboljšani uvjeti zaštite i povećan stupanj iskoristivosti sadržaja Zbirka koja je nakon uređivanja postala znatno atraktivnija.Since the natural-history collection, belonging to the high school Gimnazija Varaždin, is one of the oldest and richest school collections, whose origins date back to the second decade of XIX century, containing thereby interesting museological material, school workshop «Prošlost za budućnost» («Past for the future») and the school Biology group have undertaken actions required for its analysis, arrangement and protection. In the period between 2002 and 2005, by means of joint efforts a new inventory of the whole collection was made. Also, its history was investigated, its values were systematically presented to the public and actions were taken in order to guard and protect those assets from deterioration and destruction. Finally, informatic programmes were made with the aim of user-friendly usage of the collection’s contents in modern teaching process. The whole corpus of collected, processed and systematized materials was covered by the natural-history collection search engine as well as biology lab library search engine. Both search engines enable the users to locate items and find their way among the contents of the abundant collection. For public presentations of the collection, adequate PowerPoint presentations were elaborated. In order to increase the frequency of the usage of these aids, as well as to present the collection in the widest context possible, these support programmes were saved on a unique CD of the natural-history collection of the Gimnazija Varaždin. Lead by three teachers, the whole project was realized by some 70 students, members of the mentioned school groups, who during their work mostly drew on their own knowledge, which was further extended and enriched in the course of their work. Uppon the completion of the project, the protection conditions were substantially improved and the grade of exploitability of the collection was increased. After the arrangement of the collection it has become much more attractive