Northern States Conservation Center announces 11 online
museum courses being held over the Internet in October. The
courses cover topics on exhibits, collection care,
security, and collections management. For more information
on these courses, go to www.museumclasses.org . 

On Monday, October 5, eight courses will start:
?	MS 108: Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs
?	MS 224: Care of Leather and Skin Materials
?	MS 210: Integrated Pest Management for Museums, Libraries
and Archives
?	MS 106: Exhibit Fundamentals: Ideas to Installation
?	MS 222: Care of Photographs
?	MS 243: Making Museum Quality Mannequins
?	MS 002: Collection Protection: Are you Prepared

On Monday, October 12, two courses will start:
?	MS 209: Collections Management Policies for Museums and
Related Institutions
?	MS 010: Condition Assessments

On  Monday, October 19, the final two courses of the month
will start:
?	MS 214: Collection Management Databases
?	MS 107: Introduction to Museum Security

Below is a brief summary of each course description:

MS 108: Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs
Dates: Oct. 5 through Oct. 30, 2009
Price: $475
Instructor: Karin Hostetter

Volunteers are essential for most non-profit institutions.
But good volunteers aren't born - they are made. Even
though they don't get paychecks, it takes time and money to
have effective volunteers. Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer
Programs teaches the basics of a strong volunteer program.
Topics include recruiting, training and rewarding
volunteers, as well as preparing staff. Instruction
continues through firing and liabilities. Participants will
end up with custom forms tailored to their institutions, an
understanding of liability issues and a nine-step process
to troubleshoot an existing volunteer program or create the
best one for a particular institution.

MS224: Care of Leather and Skin Materials
Dates: Oct. 5 through Oct. 30, 2009
Price: $475
Instructor: Helen Alten

Prior to the invention of plastics, skin materials were the
flexible covering used for most objects - from bellows to
books, carriages to desktops. Furs and skins are in almost
every museum's collection, be it Natural History, History
or Art. Caring for leather and skin materials demands an
understanding of how and why they deteriorate. Care of
Leather and Skin Materials offers a simplified explanation
of the origin, chemistry and structure of leathers and
skins. Students learn to identify leathers and surface
finishes, determine their extent of deterioration, write
condition reports, and understand the agents of
deterioration that are harmful to leather and skins both in
storage and on exhibit. Topics include preparing hide and
skin materials for storage and exhibit, the use of archival
materials and which ones might harm skin proteins,
housekeeping techniques for large objects or books on open
display, and three-dimensional supports for leather and
skin to keep them from distorting. Integrated pest
management and historical treatments will be covered, with
a unit on hazardous materials applied to older skins and
leather that might prove a danger to staff.

MS210: Integrated Pest Management for Museums, Libraries
and Archives 
Dates: Oct. 5 through Nov. 20, 2009
Price: $475
Instructor: Gretchen Anderson

Participants in Integrated Pest Management for Museums,
Libraries and Archives learn low-toxicity methods of
controlling infestations. IPM is the standard method for
treating incoming items and monitoring holdings. Integrated
Pest Management for Museums, Libraries and Archives
discusses how infestations occur, helps identify risks,
provides feasible mitigation strategies, discusses the
different techniques of treating infested materials, and
helps you complete an IPM plan and monitoring schedule for
your institution. The course covers pest identification,
insects, rodent, birds, bats, other mammals and mold
infestations, as well as other problems raised by
participants.

MS 106: Exhibit Fundamentals: Ideas to Installation
Dates: Oct. 5 through Nov. 13, 2009
Price: $475
Instructor: Lin Nelson-Mayson

Nearly every museum develops exhibits, but how can we
improve communication with visitors while taking care of
our objects? Exhibit Fundamentals explores exhibits from
idea to final installation in a variety of settings. Topics
include exhibit theory, the role of the museum's mission,
creating a timeline, accessibility and script writing. Also
covered are design elements, installation techniques,
object safety and security, visitor safety and evaluations.
Each student develops an exhibit plan for his or her
museum.

MS222: Care of Photographs
Dates: Oct. 5 through Nov. 27, 2009
Price: $475
Instructor: Gawain Weaver

Photographic materials cover a diverse range, everything
from the daguerreotypes and wet plate negatives of the 19th
century to the gelatin silver, chromogenic and inkjet
prints of the 20th and now 21st century. Care of
Photographs offers a broad introduction to the history,
technology, identification, and care of these and other
photographic materials. Topics include environmental
monitoring, the effects of temperature and relative
humidity, and the importance of cold storage for certain
photographic materials. It is intended to help those caring
for photographic materials to gain a better understanding
of their collections and how to care for them. 
Each student receives two sample sets of photographs.
Course fees cover the $50 cost of these samples.

MS 243: Making Museum Quality Mannequins
Dates: Oct. 5 through Oct. 30, 2009
Price: $475
Instructor: Helen Alten

A good mannequin makes an exhibit look professional.
Unfortunately, most museum staff do not know how to make a
costume look good on a mannequin. The result is that
costumes look flat, provide incorrect information or are
being damaged. Buying an expensive "museum quality
mannequin" is not the solution - garments rarely fit
without alterations to the mannequin. Learn how to measure
garments and transfer that information to construct a new
form or alter an old form so that it accurately fits the
garment, creating an accurate and safe display. Learn about
the materials that will and won't damage the textile.
Making Museum Quality Mannequins provides an overview of
all of the materials used to construct mannequins in
today's museums. Learn inexpensive mannequin solutions and
how different materials may use the same additive or
subtractive construction technique. Fabrication methods for
many mannequin styles are described. Finishing touches -
casting and molding, hair, arms, legs, stands and base,
undergarments - are discussed with examples of how they
change the presentation of a garment.

MS 002: Collection Protection ? Are you prepared?
Dates: October 5 through 9, 2009
Price: $75
Instructor: Terri Schindel

Disaster planning is overwhelming. Where do you start? Talk
to Terri about how to get going. Use her checklist to
determine your level of preparedness. What do you already
have in place? Are you somewhat prepared? What can you do
next? Help clarify your current state of readiness and
develop future steps to improve it.

MS 209: Collections Management Policies for Museums and
Related Institutions
Dates: Oct. 12 through Dec. 18, 2009
Price: $475
Instructor: Bill Tompkins

Acquiring and holding collections impose specific legal,
ethical and professional obligations. Museums must ensure
proper management, preservation and use of their
collections. A well-crafted collections management policy
is key to collections stewardship. Collections Management
Policies for Museums and Related Institutions helps
participants develop policies that meet professional and
legal standards for collections management. 

Collections Management Policies for Museums and Related
Institutions teaches the practical skills and knowledge
needed to write and implement such a policy. The course
covers the essential components and issues a policy should
address. It also highlights the role of the policy in
carrying out a museum's mission and guiding stewardship
decisions. Participants are expected to draft collections
management policies. 

MS 010: Condition Assessments
Dates: Oct. 12 through 16, 2009
Price: $95
Instructor: Helen Alten

Whenever an object leaves or enters your museum, it should
have a dated condition report completed. A condition report
is so much more than "good" or "poor." Learn about
different types of condition reports, what is essential and
what is optional information in each, the function of a
condition report, and how to use an online condition
assessment tool.

MS 214: Collection Management Databases
Dates: Oct. 19 through Nov. 13, 2009
Price: $475
Instructors: Sofia Galarza Liu and John Simmons

A collection database is a necessary tool for accurate and
efficient collections management. In Collection Management
Databases you will learn what characteristics distinguish
one database system from another; how a database can be
used to manage inventory, conservation, pest management,
and other aspects of collections management; as well as how
to prepare your collection and documentation for entry into
a database.

MS 107: Introduction to Museum Security
Dates: Oct. 19 through Nov. 13
Price: $475
Instructor: Stevan P. Layne

World events continually remind us just how important
security is. The FBI and Interpol databases record thefts
from small rural museums and world renowned art
collections. The prevalence of collections lost to theft is
brought home to us with regular sensational newspaper
stories. And then there are the internal thefts, fires, and
collection vandalism that also result in loss. Security
must be a priority for every museum, regardless of size.
Introduction to Security teaches basic, practical
approaches to protecting against threats such as theft,
vandalism, violent acts, natural disasters, fire and
environmental hazards. Topics include selecting security
systems, determining security needs and how to build
affordable security systems. Screening, hiring, firing,
workplace violence, policies and procedures and emergency
management planning are covered as well.

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