A Practical Guide to Museum Ethics
By (author) Sally Yerkovich
Publication date:
18 March 2016Length of book:
244 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442231627
Are your collections up for grabs? Does the spouse of one of your trustees have too much to say about developing the exhibition schedule? How much is too much public participation? Where does a curator’s authority begin and end?
With money increasingly difficult to raise, is a museum more likely to accede to potential funders’ demands even when those demands might compromise the museum’s integrity? When a museum is struggling with debilitating debt, should the sale of selected items from its collections and the use of the resulting proceeds bring the museum into a more stable financial position? When a museum attempts to build its attendance and attract local visitors by crowdsourcing exhibitions, is it undermining its integrity? Ethical questions about museum activities are legion, yet they are usually only discussed when they become headlines in newspapers. Museum staff respond to such problems under pressure, often unable to take the time required to think through the sensitive and complex issues involved.
Grounded in a series of case studies, A Practical Guide to Museum Ethics confronts types of ethical dilemmas museums face and explores attempts to resolve them in chapters dealing with
Suitable for classroom use as well as a professional reference, here is a comprehensive, practical guide for dealing with ethical issues in museums.
With money increasingly difficult to raise, is a museum more likely to accede to potential funders’ demands even when those demands might compromise the museum’s integrity? When a museum is struggling with debilitating debt, should the sale of selected items from its collections and the use of the resulting proceeds bring the museum into a more stable financial position? When a museum attempts to build its attendance and attract local visitors by crowdsourcing exhibitions, is it undermining its integrity? Ethical questions about museum activities are legion, yet they are usually only discussed when they become headlines in newspapers. Museum staff respond to such problems under pressure, often unable to take the time required to think through the sensitive and complex issues involved.
Grounded in a series of case studies, A Practical Guide to Museum Ethics confronts types of ethical dilemmas museums face and explores attempts to resolve them in chapters dealing with
- accessibility, disability, and diversity;
- collections;
- conflict of interest;
- governance;
- management;
- deaccessioning; and
- accountability and transparency.
Suitable for classroom use as well as a professional reference, here is a comprehensive, practical guide for dealing with ethical issues in museums.
Is it ethical for museums to display classical sculpture without revealing conservation history? What steps, if any, should museum staff take if an autistic child behaves in a disruptive manner? Should museums retain or return Native American sacred objects? These and other types of challenging questions are posed by A Practical Guide to Museum Ethics, which considers all types of ethical dilemmas that arise in the museum field. Yerkovich poses various hypothetical situations involving ethics in daily museum work and provides possible solutions through the form of case studies. Topics include acquiring and managing collections, deaccessioning materials, controversy and censorship, conflicts of interest, and diversity and accessibility. The aim is to encourage museum professionals to think proactively rather than reactively when museum controversies become newspaper headlines and to engage people in regular conversation on ethical issues in museums. The work draws heavily on the American Alliance of Museums' Code of Ethics for Museums along with other governing documents on ethics in the museum field included as appendixes. This practical guide is a required resource for museum professionals and students in museum studies programs. The book's accessible language and thought-provoking case studies make it appropriate for all readership levels.
Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through professionals/practitioners.
Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through professionals/practitioners.