I agree that items that are used for work or to enhance one's office space should be allowed. Museum professionals often have their own personal
collection of reference materials that enhance their ability to do their job. It is not unusual for a curator to have a better reference collection than his/her museum.

Likewise, furniture that is used as office furniture is also acceptable, as are clothing, coffee makers, etc. that are used by the staff during the course of a normal work day, week, whatever.

Museum storage space, on the other hand, should not be used for storage of personal items, with the possible exception of a reference collection (assuming their is not adequate space in the employee's office).

Employee's should be required to submit an inventory of their personal items housed in the museum, even those in their office. This is for the employee's protection as well as the museum's. That way, there is never a question of who owns an item when the employee decides to take his/her things back home.

On Fri, 07 September 2001, "Panza, Robin" wrote:

>
> While I understand your point regarding staff storing old clothing and
> household items at the museum, I totally disagree with your stance when it
> comes to books and similar materials.
>
> First of all, I keep a sizeable collection of books, journals, maps, etc. in
> my office IN ORDER TO BETTER DO MY JOB!  (1) When I have someone on the
> phone, they don't want to have to call back or wait for me to go to our
> library and then get back to them.  They want an answer.  (2) When I need to
> quickly check a fact while writing, it takes significant time to go to our
> library, wander through its much larger collection to find the appropriate
> source, carry it back to my office, and then return it when I'm done.
> That's company time being wasted, which "you" are paying for.  Instead, by
> having a library in my office, I can grab the book and return it in less
> time than it would take just to get to the library (never mind the browsing,
> returning to the office, and the second trip to the library to return the
> book).  (3) I have resources that our library doesn't--should my work be
> hampered by our library's lack of funding, when I have the necessary
> resource at home?  What a waste!  It is terribly small-minded and
> short-sighted to not allow staff to keep work-oriented materials at work.
>
> Second, my office is an office, just like a staff member of any business.
> Why should I not be able to decorate it?  Most companies have found that a
> comfortable work environment makes employees *more productive*.  I have
> pictures on my walls, a CD player on my desk, and even a couple of small
> sculptures and stuffed animals among the books on my shelves.  I would
> consider it an unfair demand that I work in an ugly, sterile space, lowering
> productivity by lowering morale and loyalty to my employer.
>
> Actually, I also have a couple of items of clothing at work!  I keep a
> sweater, because sometimes it's cold at work.  [This is especially true in
> late spring and  early fall, when we can get a cold snap but the steam plant
> is shut down for the season.]  I keep a t-shirt and sneakers, because I have
> at times needed to change.  This may be because I was caught running an
> errand in a rainstorm or because I wore nice clothes and suddenly have to do
> something really grubby (like play with bloody carcasses or sooty/dusty
> boxes).  I don't use them very often, but the alternative is to refuse to
> work because it's too dirty and to miss work to go home and get out of cold,
> wet clothes.  Again, my *employer* loses productivity if it prevents me from
> storing emergency supplies.
>
> So it's going to be tricky developing guidelines for what staff can keep at
> work.    If you maintain your new policy, you will lose productivity in a
> variety of ways.  You can go back to the status quo, which causes the space
> problems you are trying to solve.  Either extreme is against *your* best
> interests.  A middle ground will be to allow materials that enhance staff
> performance (books and other resources) and some "reasonable" (and that's
> the catch) amount of other material.  Anyone with a desk or an office can be
> restricted to what fits there.  Those who don't should perhaps be provided
> with something (at least a locker or drawer or, better, a desk/table) and
> then limited to what will fit there.
>
> I'll be interested to see what others write.
>
> Robin K Panza                         [log in to unmask]
> Collection Manager, Section of Birds          ph:  412-622-3255
> Carnegie Museum of Natural History       fax: 412-622-8837
> 4400 Forbes Ave.
> Pittsburgh  PA  15213-4008  USA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Rumm [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> 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...the directive itself was unfair.
>
> 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.
>
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