At 16:40 12/04/00 -0400, Jason Aikens wrote: -snip- > Why store artifacts in a safe? We store some of our valuable items in locked cupboards in a strong room whilst some of the rooms in our off site store are on restricted access keys. Items which fall into this category are easily portable with high financial value on the open market. This includes coins and medals, netsuke, watches, jewellery, stamps, precious metals etc. We also store some pharmaceuticals and firearms in the strong room for security and safety. Separate areas for hazardous items are treated in the same way. Access to the keys for these areas is restricted and always documented by non-involved parties. It is not possible for anyone to use the key without detection as they are kept in sealed bags with unique numbers which cannot be opened without damaging the bag. The numbers are noted in a log book and checked before use with the previous record to ensure the key has not been used since the last authorised access. The keys are sealed in a new bag after use whose number is then logged. All these procedures and checks are documented, signed for and witnessed. No one may enter the strongroom alone - a security supervisor must always be there. The reason for all these precautions is not to protect from outside agencies (as an alarm system would) but from internal theft by staff, contactors or visitors. This is not to say that staff are inherently not trusted - quite the opposite - but there have been a small number of cases in the museum world of curators or other museum staff succumbing to temptation. To be honest it also makes me as a member of staff feel a lot better knowing that high value material is not on easy access, because if something does go missing, everyone who potentially had access can be under suspicion. Whether or not you should be storing objects in a safe depends on the nature of the items in question. Jackie <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Jackie Britton Head of Collections Storage and Access Science Museum, London SW7 2DD, UK phone: 0171 942 4155 email: [log in to unmask] Science Museum home page: http://www.nmsi.ac.uk Jackie's Architectural Pages: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4350 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).