A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections, Fourth Edition


Book Description

A new edition of the bible of U.S. collections management—now updated for the 21st-century museum professional or Museum Studies student! This is the only comprehensive discussion of the legal questions faced by museums as they acquire, use, and refine their collections. This fully revised and expanded fourth edition addresses a thorough range of legal developments museums face, including new developments in the digital age and under new repatriation regulations. This approachable, easy-to-follow guide provides: Major updates on deaccessioning and copyright and fair use New chapters on ethical returns and shared stewardship Real-life and hypothetical lawsuit case studies Samples from museum collection policies Templates to help with document writing Suggestions for preventing legal problems Footnotes with more indepth discussion of relevant cases The book covers a wide range of issues, including nonprofit status, fraud, copyright, loans, documentation, accessioning and deaccessioning, international exhibitions, and cultural heritage concerns. The authorative A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections offers detailed explanations of the law that make it a go-to book for any museum professional.




A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections, Third Edition


Book Description

Hailed when it was first published in 1985 as the bible of U.S. collections management, A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections offers the only comprehensive discussion of the legal questions faced by museums regarding collections. This revised and expanded third edition addresses the many legal developments—including a comprehensive discussion of stolen art and the international movement of cultural property, recent developments in copyright, and the effects of burgeoning electronic uses—that have occurred during the past twenty-five years. An authorative, go-to book for any museum professional, Legal Primer offers detailed explanations of the law, suggestions for preventing legal problems, and numerous case studies of lawsuits involving museum collections.




Things Great and Small


Book Description

Collection care is a fundamental responsibility for museums and other collecting institutions, and the foundation of collection stewardship is good collection management policies. The new third edition of Things Great and Small continues to be a comprehensive resource for developing, implementing, and revising collection management policies and includes new information for addressing prolonged or permanent closure of museums, wider parameters for collection storage environments, and sustainable collection management practices to cope with climate change. Drawing on more than 50 years of experience as a collection manager, educator, consultant, and AAM Museum Assessment Program peer reviewer, John E. Simmons reviews the most recent collection management thinking and literature, helps determine which policies an institution needs, and provides guidance on policy content. In this new edition, coverage of critical areas is expanded, including digital objects, intellectual property rights, deaccessioning, decolonization, standards and best practices, collection storage environment parameters, managing off-site storage facilities, health and safety, laws and regulations, risk management, and sustainable collection management practices. With more than 50 tables and charts and model policy templates, this major publication is aimed at museums of all kinds, historic houses and sites, and other collecting institutions.




Registration Methods for the Small Museum


Book Description

Registration Methods for the Small Museum has been the definitive guide to registration methodology for small museums since 1978. The book covers all aspects of the registration process and provides practical solutions for the small museum professional in a concise, readable manner. This step-by-step guide begins with developing policy and takes the reader through acquisition, numbering, accessioning, documentation, loans, and deaccessioning. It is a great introduction to both manual and computer systems and can help those that are unfamiliar with museum registration systems learn more about their collections. The fifth edition updates the handbook to fit the registration systems in today’s small museums and provides additional forms that weren’t in previous additions of the book. Features include: Easy to understand forms and templates Overviews of both manual and computer registration systems Overview of the acquisition process Overview of the cataloging process Overviews of museum loans Examples of a collections policy and registration manual for a small museum Guidance for small museums on how to create a new registration system or interpret the one they have




National Standards & Best Practices for U.S. Museums


Book Description

"[This publication] synthesises the experience and best thinking of leading professionals, looking both inward at how museums function and outward toward their role in society at large. Our goal: to offer specific ways to think more deeply about making your institution the best it can be and provide tools to bring your ideas to fruition." -- Preface.




Museums in Motion


Book Description

Here is a complete introduction to the history of museums, types of museums, and the key roles that museums play in the twenty-first century. Following an introductory chapter looking at what a museum is today, Part I looks at the history and types of museums: art and design museums natural history and anthropology museums science museums history museums, historic houses, interpretation centers, and heritage sites botanical gardens and zoos children’s museums The second part of the book explores the primary functions of museums and museum professionals: to collect to conserve to exhibit to interpret and to engage to serve and to act The final chapter looks at the museum profession and professional practices. Throughout, emphasis is on museums in the United States, although attention is paid to the historical framing of museums within the European context. The new edition includes discussions of technology, access, and inclusivity woven into each chapter, a list of challenges and opportunities in each chapter, and “Museums in Motion Today,” vignettes spread throughout the volume in which museum professionals provide their perspectives on where museums are now and where they are going. More than 140 images illustrate the volume.




Museum Practice


Book Description

MUSEUM PR ACTICE Edited by CONAL MCCARTHY Museum Practice covers the professional work carried out in museums and art galleries of all types, including the core functions of management, collections, exhibitions, and programs. Some forms of museum practice are familiar to visitors, yet within these diverse and complex institutions many practices are hidden from view, such as creating marketing campaigns, curating and designing exhibitions, developing fundraising and sponsorship plans, crafting mission statements, handling repatriation claims, dealing with digital media, and more. Focused on what actually occurs in everyday museum work, this volume offers contributions from experienced professionals and academics that cover a wide range of subjects including policy frameworks, ethical guidelines, approaches to conservation, collection care and management, exhibition development and public programs. From internal processes such as leadership, governance and strategic planning, to public facing roles in interpretation, visitor research and community engagement and learning, each essential component of contemporary museum practice is thoroughly discussed.




The International Handbooks of Museum Studies, 4 Volume Set


Book Description

The International Handbooks of Museum Studies is a multi-volume reference work that represents a state-of-the-art survey of the burgeoning field of museum studies. Featuring original essays by leading international museum experts and emerging scholars, readings cover all aspects of museum theory, practice, debates, and the impact of technologies. The four volumes in the series, divided thematically, offer in-depth treatment of all major issues relating to museum theory; historical and contemporary museum practice; mediations in art, design, and architecture; and the transformations and challenges confronting the museum. In addition to invaluable surveys of current scholarship, the entries include a rich and diverse panoply of examples and original case studies to illuminate the various perspectives. Unprecedented for its in-depth topic coverage and breadth of scholarship, the multi-volume International Handbooks of Museum Studies is an indispensable resource for the study of the development, roles, and significance of museums in contemporary society.




Starting Right


Book Description

Here in this second edition, updating the original by Gerald George and Cindy Sherrell-Leo, you will find out in straightforward language what a museum is--philosophically and historically--some pros and cons of establishing your museum, up-to-date resource lists, and good basic advice on all aspects of museums from the choice of a building through collections care, registration, exhibitions, conservation, staffing, financial management, and fund raising.




Using the Biological Literature


Book Description

The biological sciences cover a broad array of literature types, from younger fields like molecular biology with its reliance on recent journal articles, genomic databases, and protocol manuals to classic fields such as taxonomy with its scattered literature found in monographs and journals from the past three centuries. Using the Biological Literature: A Practical Guide, Fourth Edition is an annotated guide to selected resources in the biological sciences, presenting a wide-ranging list of important sources. This completely revised edition contains numerous new resources and descriptions of all entries including textbooks. The guide emphasizes current materials in the English language and includes retrospective references for historical perspective and to provide access to the taxonomic literature. It covers both print and electronic resources including monographs, journals, databases, indexes and abstracting tools, websites, and associations—providing users with listings of authoritative informational resources of both classical and recently published works. With chapters devoted to each of the main fields in the basic biological sciences, this book offers a guide to the best and most up-to-date resources in biology. It is appropriate for anyone interested in searching the biological literature, from undergraduate students to faculty, researchers, and librarians. The guide includes a supplementary website dedicated to keeping URLs of electronic and web-based resources up to date, a popular feature continued from the third edition.