Kevin,
One possible way of dealing with insurance values (across the board)
that, unfortunately, won't reflect current collecting trends, is to
apply the yearly standard inflation rate to the object values. Granted,
nobody wants to have to go thru and change the value of every single
object each year, but maybe someone with computer programming skills
could create a formula in your database to do this automatically each
year. You would probably have to figure out the inflation rates for
each year and do some fancy math to come up with accurate rates.

The other thing you could do is just do a "sum" of your values and
multiply that total by the inflation rates of the past few years.
Then, when divide that total by your total number of objects to come up
with a "rough" estimate for each object. We tend to update actual
values when things go on exhibit or out on loan or when we see public
auction notices for objects that are similar to ones in our collection.
That's kind of the passive way of doing things.

We are constantly having to deal with this issue also, so I'd
appreciate any further comments on this topic.
Best,
Angela

On Monday, October 6, 2003, at 02:36 PM, Kevin MacLean wrote:
>
> As part of our cataloguing procedure, we assign our artifacts an
> insurable value.  However, we have no mechanism in place to ensure
> that objects catalogued in the 70s are maintained with current
> insurable values.  For example, we have an oak, stacking barristers'
> bookcase from the 20s, catalogued with a value of $48 CDN in 1964.
> $48 remains as its current insurable value.
>
> How do your institutions ensure that objects continue to have present
> day values when it requires a re-assessment of tens of thousands of
> objects on an annual basis? I have an idea as to how it could be done,
> but want to hear other institutions' solutions to this universal
> challenge.  Look forward to hearing your answers.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kevin MacLean
> Galt Museum and Archives
> Lethbridge, AB, Can.

Angela J. Linn
Collections Manager, Ethnology & History
University of Alaska Museum
907 Yukon Drive
P.O. Box 756960
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6960
TEL: (907) 474-1828
FAX: (907) 474-5469

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