At 00:16 1999-09-28 EDT, you wrote:
>In a message dated 9/27/99 1:50:40 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>>Why are standards not used? What problems do museums have in adopting
>>standards, guidelines and codes of practice? In the UK, why do some
>>museums decide not to apply to the Museums and Galleries Commission to
>>become Registered Museums? Would a registration scheme for museums be
>>welcomed in other countries, and if not why not?
>
>
>I am not a religious man, but I am praying that this is not a proposal to
>unleash ISO certification into the altogether different world of museums.
>Minor increased industrial "efficiency" at the cost of human interactions is
>a false economy.
>
>David Formanek
>Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum
>USS Constitution Museum
>
Having read what Leonard has to say on the subject, I am sure that the
scourge of
BS5750/ISO9000 and its ill-founded ilk are not what he has in mind.
There have been plenty of valuable standards developed by and for the museum
community, especially in the areas of documentation and procedures.

In the UK the Museum Documentation Association developed the Spectrum
procedural
standard which covers everything to do with the acquisition, documentation,
conservation and disposal (if any) through the lifetime of an object's stay
in an institution. IUt was developed in cooperation with many people from UK
museums.

I would agree that ISO9000 is the sort of "one size fits all"
pseudo-solution to
the problems of improving "quality". In a somewhat unrelated note, NASA
released
a press release about how it had achieved ISO9000 certification, the day after
Mars Climate Observer crashed into the red planet.

It is up to those of us who know about such standards to adopt them to
avoid having
ISO9000 and anything like it from being foisted upon us by those who fund our
institutions. Forutnately the Museums and Galleries Commission has a
registration
scheme in the UK, which mandates levels of care of objects and
documentation, but
as Leonard points out not every museum avails of it.

I hope this sheds some light on the matter, Michael
--
Michael Comiskey, Systems Manager, Ulster Museum
[log in to unmask]

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