First let me thank the people who enlightened me on Samizdat!
 
Now, since Barbara started this new thread  and I have retitled it, I will
offer a comment on her questions...
 
>What is the role of the museum professional in promoting debate and freedom
>of information?  Can we spend public resources on activites which, while
>they may benefit the greater society in an indirect manner, are a) aimed at
>a fairly small number and  b) do not directly promote the institution's
>mandate and programme goals?
>
>Is there a parallel with institutional support for professional development?
 
 
1) >the museum professional's role in promoting debate and freedom of
information<   Education seems to be the buzzword these days.  In the
States (Barbara is in Canada) we also have the Freedom of Information Act.
While not a lawyer, it seems to me that the FIA (also called "sunshine
law") may play a role here.  I believe it pertains to all publicly funded
collections.  I wonder if I'm wrong in thinking there is a difference
between putting out your dirty and clean laundry for all to see, and having
someone ask to see specific bits of laundry for a specific purpose.   I
would rather we put out our clean laundry (i.e., databases of publicly
useful collection information) - I don't mean to imply "cleaned-up"
laundry.   But then, I am talking about databases, not the exhibition
labels and text for the Enola Gay exhibit.  The more interesting question
for me is:
 
2) >can we spend public resources in promoting debate, etc. for a) a small
number - and b) not directly promoting the museum's goals.<  If by public
resources you mean connect time, scanning time, work hours used to plow
through Museum-l, etc. , I think that our institutions are better served by
informed staff who keep abreast of the issues revolving around our
profession - this goes for part a) and part b)!    Surely this is the same
rationale behind our boards/directors/whatever agreeing that occasional
attendance at and participation in professional forae is beneficial to the
institution - "professional development". (3!)
 
But the point I wanted to raise, had to do with intellectual property
rights and copyright.  If the Enola Gay didactics were to have been scanned
and put up on the net for all to see, would this have been a violation of
copyright? Intellectual property rights?  I think it is a wide open
question.  Those labels were the fruit of someones intellectual efforts.
Do those labels belong to the individual(s) even if not published?  Or to
the SI (and by extension the amurican taxpayer)?  Anyone got any thoughts?
 
Suzanne
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suzanne Quigley
Head Registrar
Detroit Institute of Arts
313 833 0261
[log in to unmask]