To Wayne Motts and other colleagues:
 
 
I empathize with your situation -- two seeming collections -- one for education and another for everyone else. I stepped into a similar situation as head of education in a museum five years ago.  There were phenomenal biomaterials and artifacts stashed away in the biomaterials room that went unused because, as one education manager put it "we don't want anything to happen to them".  After I was there six months and had some idea of the politics and alliances, I asked for volunteers among my staff of 25 and the 250 docents -- to take inventory of the biomaterials room and every single item used in education -- from books, videos, audiocassetes, artifacts, biomaterials, etc. (catalogued, classified, numbered, etc). I wanted staff and volunteers and docents to be using those materials.  They were doing no good gathering dust in a closet. 
 
That took almost a year, and people were amazed by what we had.  I then put all that informatoin into a massive database that I had created.  Then, in colalboration with a subcomittee of education staff, docents and staff from collections, we wrote a policy and procedure for where the items would be kept (most in education dept but some in satellite areas around the grounds for use by staff/volunteers), who could use them, yes, they could be checked out (if staff in any dept or docents were making a presentation at a school, church group, Scouts, whatever), a means of accountability if the items were not returned and a check out sheet.  One of the education coordinators assumed the task of monitoring this education material and repair process. 
 
Staff and volunteers throughout the institution were thrilled to have these materials available to them.  Other departments felt some "ownership" because they have been involved in the process of cataloguing and developing policy on use.  The ironic thing is, the materials are still used the majority of the time by education staff.  But the tension that was once there over these materials is gone because everyone now knows that they can use them should the need or interest arise.  The public is being treated to seemingly "new" programs and educational materials -- having never seen some of this stuff before....everyone wins.
 
If you want to contact me offline, I'd be happy to talk with you about your situation.  Good luck!
 
Kind regards,
Terrie

Terrie Nolinske, Ph.D.
www.tniconsultants.com
[log in to unmask]

TNI Consultants in Professional Development
930 North Boulevard
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
708. 386. 1331

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Wayne Motts
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2002 11:28 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Educational Collections Issues

I am the curator of an institution that has a very active educational program. We have a separate educational collection of artifacts and material that is used for educational purposes. I am only recent to the organization. These objects are kept in the museum database and are noted as part of the educational collection. My question to the group is does anyone else have a similar set-up? Should these objects be accessioned into the actual museum? Should these objects be accepted just as a donation to the educational department for them to use as they see fit? Previous curator have removed items from use that they deemed unsuitable for the educational collection because of the condition or value of the artifact. I received to large maps for the educational department yesterday that were done in the WPA era. These are large, say 4 feet tall by 6 feet long. They are not to me museum quality, nor do they really match our collection policy. The eductional director wishes these for her purposes. What advice

Thanks,

Wayne Motts

 


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