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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