EEEK!
This situation has all sort of alarms and sirens going off, lights flashing,
etc., both from a legal and ethical point of view. Deaccessioning without
even a Collections Policy in place!? How do you know you don't want the
stuff if you're not sure what you're collecting? (that's a rhetorical
"you", BTW.)
In addition to the other very excellent suggestions that have already been
made, let me add another (or two):
Take this hypothetical situation to the State Attorney General and see what
he/she has to say about it. (That is the office that has standing to sue,
IRS problems notwithstanding.) Whether the hypothetical collections manager
type informs the hypothetical director and/or board before or afterwards is
a matter of conscience. I would also recommend trying to halt the efforts
of the cataloger until the mess can be straightened out. If he/she finishes
the work, the institution may end up having to pay the full going rate (in
lieu of collections items), and I would suspect that the institution will be
in financial trouble in that case. (Not to mention possible penalties that
may be assigned should it go to court.)
If I were in the hypothetical collections manager's place, I'd probably make
a concerted effort to make _someone_ realize that the continued viability
(if not the very existence) of the institution was in jeopardy as a result
of the ill-advised contract. I'm certain that getting fired from a p/t
volunteer job for attempting to uphold legal/ethical standards will not be a
black mark at the next job interview. Well, reasonably certain. "One never
knows, do one?"
-Larry Burke
-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Stout [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 11:22 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Another ethics question
Suppose, hypothetically, that there was a director at a hypothetical small,
up-and-coming museum who had just hired a person to enter collections
information into our, ahem, THEIR new PastPerfect database.
Suppose that new person was being paid about two thirds the going rate for
such a position, but that she had negotiated a deal into her contract that
allows her to be paid with items from the museum's collection, in addition
to her paycheck. For example, let's suppose she collects military uniforms,
and that the museum has many duplicates in its uniform collection.
She negotiated this arrangement with the director, who has no museum
background and no knowledge of collections management. There are no other
paid staff in the collections/exhibits realm, but there is a half-time,
volunteer Exhibits/Collections Manager with nominal responsibility. He has
some museum background (mostly exhibits), and sees this as a blatant
conflict of interest.
He's expected to review and approve each item that the data-entry/registrar
would like to deaccession and take home, but doesn't have the detailed
knowledge of uniforms that she has as a collector. Her contract doesn't
specify any objective way of determining the value or exchange rate for the
uniforms. Essentially, she decides what is surplus in the collection,
determines its value, etc.
Now, the Exhibits/Collections Manager could conceivably research each item
to determine its real value, but I, ahem, HE is already swamped with other
urgent museum work, essentially performing a full-time job in 20 hours a
week. (He still works full time elsewhere.) He's also appalled at the idea
of paying the staff with items from the collection.
I hear you all asking, where is the collections policy? Where are the
professional standards? Don't they know that items in the collection are to
remain in the public trust?
Well, the Exhibits/Collections Manager knows, and one of those urgent tasks
is the writing of a collections policy. But such policies have existed in
the past, and have generally been ignored by the director and board. (Their
hearts are in the right place, but IMHO they tend to view all this formal
museum crap as a hindrance to their agenda.)
What should that hypothetical Exhibits/Collections Manager do, under the
(purely hypothetical) circumstances? He's most interested in correcting the
problem, but at the very least would like to cover his hypothetical
backside.
Surely some of you have been in similar situations. What did you do? Sure,
I'd love to hear success stories, but I'd like to hear about the pitfalls
and failures, too. I need to know what NOT to do as well as what I should
do.
Thank you for your advice!
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