[NHCOLL-L:5231] Collections policy online class starts Monday

[Helen Alten]

*MS 209: Collections Management Policies for
Museums and Related Institutions*
Instructor: John Simmons
Price: $475
Dates: Feb 7 - Mar 18, 2011
Location: online at www.museumclasses.org
*
Description:*:
Acquiring and holding collections impose specific legal, ethical and 
professional obligations. Museums must ensure proper management, 
preservation and use of their collections. A well-crafted collections 
management policy is key to collections stewardship. Collections 
Management Policies for Museums and Related Institutions helps 
participants develop policies that meet professional and legal standards 
for collections management.

Collections Management Policies for Museums and Related Institutions 
teaches the practical skills and knowledge needed to write and implement 
such a policy. The course covers the essential components and issues a 
policy should address. It also highlights the role of the policy in 
carrying out a museum's mission and guiding stewardship decisions. 
Participants are expected to draft collections management policies.

*Course Textbook:*
John E. Simmons, Things Great and Small: Collections Management 
Policies, American Association of Museums, 2006, $40 non-member, $30 
member, 208 pages, ISBN: 1-933253-03-7, available from the AAM bookstore 
<http://www.aam-us.org/bookstore/detail.cfm?id=721>

*Course Outline:*
1. The Principles of Collections Management
2. Collections Stewardship: The Role of a Collections Management Policy
3. Policy Versus Procedure
4. Issues to Consider When Developing a Collections Management Policy
5. Essential Components of a Collections Management Policy
       · Statement of Purpose
       · Statement of Authority
       · Definition and Scope of Collections
       · Acquisition and Accessioning
       · Deaccessioning and Disposal
       · Preservation
       · Collections Information
       · Inventory
       · Risk Management and Security
       · Access
       · Loans
       · Intellectual Property Rights Management
       · Staff Responsibility / Ethics
6. Monitoring and Revision
7. Potential Problems
8. Emerging Issues
9. Drafting a Collections Management Policy


*Logistics:*
Participants in Collections Management Policies work through sections at 
their own pace. Instructor Bill Tompkins is available for scheduled 
email support. Materials and resources include online literature, 
textbook readings, slide lectures and dialog between students and online 
chats led by the instructor. The course is limited to 20 participants.

Collections Policies runs for twelve weeks. To reserve a spot in the 
course, please pay at http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html If you 
have trouble please contact Helen Alten at helen at collectioncare.org

*Instructor:
John E. Simmons* runs Museologica, an independent consulting company, 
and serves as Adjunct Curator of Collections at the Earth and Mineral 
Sciences Museum and Art Gallery at Pennsylvania State University. He has 
a B.S. in Systematics and Ecology and a Master's degree in Historical 
Administration and Museum Studies. Simmons began his professional career 
as a zoo keeper, then worked as collections manager at the California 
Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of the University of 
Kansas, where he also served as Director of the Museum Studies Program 
until 2007. He received the Superior Voluntary Service Award from the 
American Association of Museums and the Chancellor's Award for 
Outstanding Mentoring of Graduate Students from the University of 
Kansas. Simmons' publications include three books, Herpetological 
Collecting and Collections Management (2002), Cuidado, Manejo y 
Conservación de las Colecciones Biológicas (2005, with Yaneth 
Muñoz-Saba), and Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies 
(2006). He consults, teaches, and does field work in the US, Latin 
America and Asia.
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