> On Fri, 23 Jul 1999 09:58:49 -0500, Nicholson wrote: > By what policy or authority would you deny access to your collection to > any > >citizen, if there is no restriction on the use of the material to which > they > >want access? > John Bing responded: > I made my comments based on the original facts: > 1. that it is a private non-profit museum, and, > 2. that the lawyers wanted to see the photos in connection with > litigation. > > John: I think that you are confused about what exactly the business of a private non-profit museum is. It is "private" in the sense that it is not attached to an entity of government. The government grants a private museum non-profit status because it is considered to be carrying out a mission that is beneficial to the public, so it gets a tax break. In the case of museums in the United States, that mission is usually considered to be an educational one. Private non-profit museums in the United States do operate for the public benefit, and any restrictions on access to the collection (which we hold in trust for ALL citizens) can fall under the scrutiny of the state attorney general. The board of trustees of your museum is free to make any access rules it wants regarding the collection, but it is possible that unreasonable restrictions (like not granting access to lawyers contemplating litigation, for instance) would not be allowed to stand. Lawyers are taxpayers too. I also wanted to take a moment to respond too to Olivia's comment about access to the collections at the National Archives: I worked there for 12 years, and while most researchers are required to disclose the project they are working on, that is done in order to help them find records that would be most likely to provide them with information. To my knowledge, NARA has never screened potential researchers. In fact, use in litigation is probably the second-largest use to which federal government records at the National Archives are used (following genealogy!). Reasonable restrictions on access to our collections is not just a good idea, but a required part of a good collections management program. However, the restrictions must be based on something reasonable, like condition of the artifacts or restrictions on the original gift--we cannot base it on fear of being sued. Claudia Nicholson ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://museums.state.nm.us/nmmnh/museum-l.html. 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).