John-

Although we don't have a policy like you are looking for, but I will tell
you what I think.When you say that they are storing files, books, furniture
and other similar materials that assist them with their position do these
people have offices or whatever where they are storing these things?  I
would totally agree that personal effects, old clothing, non-office
furniture, and household effects shouldn't be at the museum, but the other
confuses me a little.  I have many of my own personal items in MY office
(only) such as drapes, files, books, and other similar office materials that
I brought to make my office mine and compliment what the site could offer me
for office decor.  But this is my office space not site storage space or
"premium" space for the institution.  I would think that no-one with or
without an office should be allowed to have anything at work that is stored
in a premium space.  If you have an office and what some personal effects
such as picture, etc. and materials that enhance your position such as
books, I wouldn't have a problems with it, but would require that each staff
member maintain a list of personal items.  If people don't have offices,
maybe you could give them one shelf or other small space for books and files
that they use to enhance their work.  For furniture, if it is something that
you can use all the time ask them to give it to the institution or if they
only want to loan it, mark it as the personal property of the individual so
that when they leave, you will know it is theirs to take with them.

This is a tricky business because many of us have materials that would
assist us with our job and want to have them at work where they are handy,
but from the sounds of things, this business of storing non-business
materials have become a real problem.  I wish you luck and if you develop a
policy or find one like it, please share it with the list, I for one would
be very interested in seeing it.

Tracie Evans
Curator of Collections
Stonefield Historic Site

----- Original Message -----
From: John Rumm <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 10:08 AM
Subject: Storing Personal Property in Museums


> Dear Listmembers,
>
> Please forgive me in advance if I am raising an issue that has been
discussed previously, but I'm relatively new to the list and in the brief
time I've belonged, haven't seen it addressed.  As the newly-appointed
Executive Director of an emerging institution that will be formed, in part,
from the consolidation of some existing programs, I'm interested in getting
some feedback on a problem that I am attempting to resolve.
>
> The situation is this: for the past 20 years, staff members have been
storing personal property in an institution.  The items run the gamut from
books and files that may be used day-to-day or from time to time (e.g., to
answer research inquiries), to furniture, to plastic crates filled with
out-of-season clothing and other household effects.  Institutional storage
space is at a premium (indeed, a main reason for creating the new
institution is because of limited storage space), yet staff members have
been using shelving units, bookshelves, and cabinets to store their
materials.
>
> Staff members recently received a directive stating that all personal
items presently stored in the institution were to be removed by  a specified
date, and were not to be stored there in the future.  In reply, staff
members are asserting that, among other things, the insitution's meager
resources meant that they "solved" this problem "by the loan of personal
items for the use of the [institution]," including books, journals and
furniture {with no paper trail to document such "loans"); that the central
administrative office hitherto neither challenged this, nor formulated any
guidelines regarding the storage of personal items by staff members; that
removal of the materials now will result in new expenditures, particularly
if personal books used for research need to be replaced with items purchased
by the institution; and that the directive itself was unfair.
>
> I am endeavoring to prepare a response that will, I hope, resolve the
situation.  In framing my response, I have consulted the 1978 report by
AAM's Committee on Ethics, on "Museum Ethics."  This source is very helpful
with regard to staff members using in their homes or for any personal
purpose objects that are part of the museum's collection or are its official
property, but it doesn't address the corollary, i.e., the use by staff of
space and furnishings to store personal property, other than to state that
such should not be used except for official business purposes.
>
> I'd appreciate learning about, or being directed to, other institutions'
guidelines that address the issue of staff storing personal property in
museums (or, for that matter, historic houses, archives or libraries.)
Listmembers can post their replies to the list or direct them to me
personally.
>
> Thanks much!
>
> Collegially,
>
> John C. Rumm
>
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