The 1986 ICOM (International Council of Museums) Code of Professional Ethics
was intended to cover all areas of museum governance and museum work, and
acceptance and compliance with this is a binding obligation of ICOM
membership (within which Museum Educators - CECA - form the second
largest International Committee).

Those of us who drafted it were careful to include a balanced coverage
including ethical obligations in progamming and communication.

Interestingly enough, having for 12 years had a detailed etihical code
specifically for curators (in the narrow sense) the Uk Museums
Asssociation is just launching a consuotation on a new, inclusive,
ethical code intended to cover all museum workersm, rather than eg. try
to develop dozens of different codes for specific museum jobs and
specialisations.

The full ICOM text is available on the ICOM Web Server.  The URL that
takes you direct to the text of the Code is admirably simple (others
please copy!!):

        http://www.icom.org/ethics

If anyone does not have easy WWW access I have the full text stored in my
root directory so it is no trouble for me to e-mail it to you, but please
reply OFF-List if so.

Patrick Boylan, e-mail: [log in to unmask]
(Vice-President of ICOM)

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On Wed, 27 Mar 1996, MarcPence wrote:

> Does anyone know if a Code of Ethics or a Code of Professional Conduct has
> been written for museum educators?  We have copies of the policies for
> curators,  registrars, conservators, and directors, and I have seen
> articles discussing the issue of ethics for educators.  But I have yet to
> find a specific policy for museum educators.