Entomologist uses ScholarSphere repository to preserve rare insect collection

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Andy Deans is searching high and low for a 130-year-old insect. He knows it's around here somewhere - but among the nearly 2 million insect specimens in the collection room of Penn State's Frost Entomological Museum - the museum's oldest specimen could be anywhere. Aisles of mismatched wood shelves and metal cabinets fill the fluorescent-lit room from wall to wall and floor to ceiling. Countless bugs - dragonflies, lice, aphids, moths, butterflies and bees - are hidden in drawers, slide boxes and even vintage cigar boxes. As the museum's new director, Deans has charged himself with the task of reinvigorating the museum's public exhibitions and organizing the storage room to create more space for the University's active and growing insect collection. On this day, he's focused on the darkling beetle, a bullet-shaped beetle captured in Bethlehem, Pa., that got moved recently as part of the museum's revamp.