Dear John Rumm,

There are several different issues being misunderstood here:
1.  I think there is a misunderstanding of what a collection of objects are
versus a collection of academic/practical knowledge as represented in books
and journals used for professional work. I would like to think that an
institution would take pride in an employees initiative to use personal
money to acquire books which directly help them to perform their duties
better.  Many institution and programs do not have the money to either
provide complete reference libraries for employees to use or to provide the
necessary training to acquire skills and knowledge which keep them up to
date in their field.  Many employees look to references to help keep them
abreast in their field especially in lack of training or as new
responsibilities are added on.  These references are important to have on
hand during their day to day responsibilities.

2.  I believe that most everyone would fully agree that personal collecting
of objects may sometimes be a conflict of interest with a museums
collecting policy or mission though I do believe that in most cases the
institution does not have a the right to deny personal collecting but may
require the disclosure of a conflict of interest form.  I think your quotes
from the various code of ethics really revolve around the collecting of
objects whether they be peruvian ceramics or rare 18th century books.  One
should not equate a collection of rare books with a reference library used
for work. In one case it is the "object" that is of value in the other it
is the knowledge contained within that is valued.

3.  As for the storage of personal items not used directly for work, I
think everyone would be in agreement that the museum or institution is not
the place for that.  It is not only a liability issue for an insititution
but also a loss of money given most museum's lack of adequate storage for
their own collections. In this I am thinking strictly storage, not the use
of a filing case to hold articles photocopied for reference in work.

My question for you is this...If your institution will have such strict
policies regarding personal property, will it then have the ability to
provide employees with all their needs including complete reference
libraries, all the appropriate furniture, and even clothing to wear at
work?

These are just some of my thoughts on the subject.

Angela Steiner Neller
Curator of Collections
Ill. Trans. Arch. Research Program and the Laboratory of Anthropology
Department of Anthropology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
209 Nuclear Physics Lab, 23 Stadium Drive, MC-571
Champaign, IL  61820
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Office Phone: 217-333-0263
Program Fax: 217-244-7458
Program Office: 217-244-4244
http://www.anthro.uiuc.edu/itarp

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