Cost-effective methods for creating durable labels are critical for the long-term preservation of biological specimens. Deterioration of specimen labels can render specimens scientifically valueless, and while the practice of writing labels with India Ink or pencil on cotton rag paper has stood the test of time, it is time-consuming and subject to human error. Sarah Bush from the University of Kansas recently asked me what I used to print the labels for my louse specimen collection. These specimens are frozen and preserved in 96% ethanol, so if the wrong method is used, the laser toner will lift off the label in a few months of being immersed in ethanol. I didn't have the time to reply to Sarah, but I passed the query to Jason Weckstein at Chicago Field Museum who provided a far better answer that I could have given, and with his permission I am copying it below. He added a few templates to give you an idea of the information we typically record on our louse labels - see the attachments below.

From Jason...

I've been using a Lexmark inkjet printer with a special indelible "waterproof" inkjet cartridge (#70), order number 12A1970. Originally there were several Lexmark printers that took this ink... but now most have been phased out. Now the only printer that takes the #70 ink cartridge is the X4270 which is a fax/scanner/printer. The insect folks here at the FMNH and at many other institutions have been using these printers for their Ethanol preserved collections. One more key piece of information... We use a special paper as well for alcohol labels. Byron-Weston Linen Record 36 sub (this is the weight of the paper). This paper is NOT resistal treated which helps it to absorb the ink properly. You can order this paper in single reams of 8.5 X 11 from University Products (Catalog #226-85154). You can also purchase an impact printer which I think works like an old fashioned dot matrix printer... I don't really know anything about these... I believe they are pretty expensive. Kevin J. might be able to ask around at the survey for you... I know the insect collection there has one. My inclination would be to go with the inkjet as long as it is available... it is cheap... just over $100 and the ink isn't too bad either.

Prior to our January expedition I preprinted out labels... since we knew the locality (minus lat long data). I just left blanks for date, specimen prep number, and host taxon... and I fill these in with a Rotring Rapidoliner... so labeling each vial in the field was very quick. I use the same method for the McCormick place and Chicago Loop specimens that I have been collecting here in Chicago... it really cuts down on processing time and the complete label data is in the vial right away. I've attached an example file from those labels. You could probably do a mail merge from an excel sheet of the data from your specimens to a Microsoft word document.

I've also been printing up slide labels... rather than the tedious hand writing of these. For this I am using the laser printer and foilback labelstock. Barry O'Connor at University of Michigan (and others) has been using this material for labels for years. These are really similar to the little foilbacked license plate sticker that you stick on your car license plate each year. This paper is also available from University Products (Catalog #387-3025).

Later,

Jason