re: David Haberstich's follow-up queries on storing personal property in
museums:

<<But where do museums draw the line between one's personal
"ready-reference" collection and an institution's own research
collections?>>
There should be no problems with staff in a museum acquiring for their own
purposes books that may duplicate or exceed those held by their library. I
work in a museum with a specialized library collection. There are many books
that I and my colleges have in our offices which duplicate those in our
library and there are many books in our office which are signed out from out
library to us. Idealy, our librarian would like at least two-three copies of
all our books - 1 for in the library, 1 for interlibrary loans, and 1 for
staff use, but at the moment we do not have the space or budget for this and
many of our books are out of print (plus it can be a bit onerous when 6
staff members all want a copy of the same books for their reference).

<<Should museum professionals only purchase or acquire a book for themselves
when their own institution can't or won't do so itself? >>
Knowing the budgetary contrainsts our library works under, it is not unusual
for our staff to
buy a second copy of a book to donate to our library.

<<Do books that museum professionals acquire in the normal course of their
duties become, de facto or de jure, the property of the museum, if the
museum does not already possess that book as part of its own collection?>>
No. If an employee bought a book with their own money (not museum money!)
then it is the property of the employee not the museum. If a book was bought
for an employees use, using museum funds, then it would be reasonable for
the museum to put their marks on it and it should be museum property.

<<Should museum staff members be asked to prepare and maintain a list of all
the personal books in their offices?>><<What steps can museums and museum
staff take to avoid falling into ethical conduct pitfalls that relate to
book collecting? >>
There has never been a problem with this with our museum, as the library
books are all very clearly idenified as to their origin (and our librarian
keeps a close eye on our renewals!). Our private books are often duplicates
of ones in the library, and often our library has only one copy. Few library
collections can be "complete" and as long as there is a clear distinction
between the books from the library collection and your own personal books
there should not be a problem with having both in your office.


As for storing personal effects in the museum - I see nothing wrong with
having the odd picture or ornament to liven up an office, or with keeping a
change of clothing at work (I always keep a "good" outfit, a sweater for the
cold, and "grubby" clothes as you never know when you will need them). But
to store boxes of personal stuff in the museum's collections is just not on!
The collections storage areas are for just that - the museum's collections,
not our personal boxes of childrens clothing or whatever else.

Carol Reid
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