Colleagues,

I need more responses for this survey. If you answered, please accept my
deepest thanks and I plan to contact you after the AAM meeting with the
results. If you haven't responded, please take a few moments and jot down your
thoughts. I am interested in responses from all areas of museum administration.
I thank you all in advance.

Curators, Registrars and Collections Managers are frequently given the
responsibility of steering their museums through the litigious waters
surrounding the development and execution of exhibitions and collections. How
easily and confidently they arrive at their decisions depends upon the support
of their management who should help provide them with the necessary tools to
evaluate situations and call in legal assistance when necessary. Granted some
museums have legal counsel on staff but what about those museums who don t.
How does the registrar obtain the information - classes, workshops, books -
necessary to make these calls?

The information I gather from this survey will be evaluated and presented at
the AAM session  Museum Law: Legal Issues That Impact Managerial Decisions ,
because of my experience, I am focusing my remarks on collections and
exhibitions.  It is my hope that the results will reflect a broad spectrum of
real legal issues facing today s museums both large and small. Please take a
few moments and answer the following questions. Thank you for your help.


1.      What is the major legal issue that your museum faces or fears the most?

1a.     Any litigations you care to share?

2.      What training have you received to help you make legal decisions?

2a.     Did the museum support these efforts?

3.      Where do you go for legal counsel?

4.      Please describe your museum.

5.      Your name and title (if you prefer to remain anonymous - I guess that s
hard with e-mail - let me know and the information will be treated
confidentially).


Thank you very much for your help.

Gail Kana Anderson
Assistant Director/Curator of Collections
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma
410 W. Boyd St.
Norman, OK 73019
405.325.3272; Fax 405.325.7696
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