FOREWORD: The information here has been drawn from the Council of Australian Museum Associations and has been copied here for the purposes of research and critical review. Before acting upon any information here readers should go to the source document to verify the currency of this information. CLICK HERE to go to the CAMA source document.
Museums Australia Code of Ethics: The 'Museums Australia Code of Ethics' (adopted 1984, revised 1994 & 1999) provides a general guide to assist members in making decisions about the ethical issues with which they may be confronted in their professional activities
Click here to download a copy of the Code of Ethics
Code of Ethics is being reviewed in 2010 and will be launched early 2011 ... NB not yet online
CODE OF ETHICS FOR ART, HISTORY & SCIENCE MUSEUMS I SBN 0 9589539 0 2 Originally published by the Council of Australian Museum Associations, 1985 This 1999 edition published by: Museums Australia PO BOX 266 Civic square ACT 2608 AUSTRALIA, © Council of Australian Museum Associations 1985 ©: Museums Australia 1994 Museums Australia National Office PO BOX 266 CIVIC SQUARE ACT 2608 Australia 61 (0)2 62085044 fax 61 (0) 2 62085149
PREFACE TO ORIGINAL EDITION - 1985
Our museums include a great variety of institutions, all playing an important role in the preservation of our
natural and cultural heritage. That role is continually changing in response to wider social and political
pressures and to the needs of society as they are perceived from within the museum.
Some of these changes are easily discernible - the increase in community-related activities, greater
environmental concern, and acquisition policies giving greater recognition to the claims of indigenous peoples.
Related but perhaps less obvious changes are also occurring in the ethical basis on which museum people make
decisions in their professional capacity.
In this climate of change, the Council of Australian Museum Associations (CAMA) decided to compile this Code of
Ethics as a general guide to assist members in making decisions about the ethical issues with which they may be
confronted.
This Code also cannot be considered a complete document covering every possible facet of museum activities;
these are far too varied and complex for ethical conduct to be itemised.
The CAMA hopes, however, that the Code will be used as a reference point by governing bodies and individuals. The
statements are intended to be measuring sticks against which current museum policy and practice can be tested
for ethical content.
The CAMA drew upon the experience of museum associations in other parts of
the world, notably the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION 1994
On the 3 December 1993 the Art Museums Association of Australia Inc., the Museums Association of Australia
Inc., the Museum Education Association of Australia Inc. and the Council of Australian Museum Associations Inc.
amalgamated. The Code of Ethics was adopted as the Code of Ethics of the amalgamating associations. On 1
January 1994 Museum Australia was established from these amalgamating associations.
CODE OF ETHICS FOR ART, HISTORY & SCIENCE MUSEUMS
1999
DEFINITIONS
in CAMA Code of Ethics, the following definitions shall apply:
- Curator - person responsible for a collection, equivalent to the British term 'keeper' and the French term 'conservator', but not a person thus designated for administrative convenience, e.g. 'curator of education' or 'curator of exhibitions'
- Director - chief executive officer of a museum Governing body - the group of people who decide the policies and priorities of the museum (e.g., museum council, trust, board)
- Museum - defined in 1.1 below
- Museum officer - one of the paid staff Staff - the personnel of a museum, employed or voluntary, paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time
- Volunteer - a person who, although not paid by the museum, nevertheless is treated in all respects as though he or she were a member of staff.
INSTITUTIONAL ETHICS
DEFINITION OF A MUSEUM
The International Council of Museums (ICOM), an agency of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), defines a museum as a non-profit-making, permanent institution, in the
service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches,
communicates and exhibits, for the purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of man
and his environment.' (ICOM Statutes, 1974)
In addition to museums designated as such, ICOM recognises that the following comply with the above definition:
- Conservation institutes, and exhibition galleries permanently maintained by libraries and archive centres;
- Natural, archaeological and ethnographic monuments and sites, and historical monuments and sites of a museum nature, for their acquisition, conservation and communication activities;
- Institutions displaying live specimens, such as botanic and zoological gardens, aquaria, vivaria, etc.;
- nature reserves; e. science centres and planetaria. 1.2 Museums Australia should be fully supported by all museum governing bodies who should encourage and facilitate opportunities for their museum staff to participate in the work of the member association, branches and special interest groups.
For even the smallest museum, the following minimum requirements are considered essential. These
requirements will vary in detail according to the size and responsibility of each museum.
- Constitution - The governing body of a museum must prepare and publicise a clear statement of its charter, goals and policies, and of its role and composition.
- Finance - Sufficient funds must be regularly forthcoming either from public or private sources, together with other sources of income such as admission charges or trading activities, to carry out and develop the work of the Museum. Museums may seek funds from private sources as well as the three levels of Government (federal, state and local). Proper accounting procedures must be followed. Credit for sponsorship should never be more prominent than that given to the museum itself.
- Collections - The collections should comprise high quality objects acquired under a stated acquisition policy. These collections must be properly housed, conserved, documented, photographed, and displayed.
- Premises - Premises must be adequate for the museum to fulfil within its accepted policy its basic functions of collection, research, storage, conservation, education and display. The space should include, if appropriate, allocation to office, laboratory, workshop and cleaning staff.
- Protection - The best possible safeguards must be sought, day. and night throughout the year, against such hazards as theft, fire, flood, vandalism, careless handling, uncontrolled environment and consequent deterioration.
- Staff - Staff should be composed of people who are paid, and properly qualified in the fields in which they specialise, i.e. curatorial, technical, conservation, education, administration, display, security, etc. In museums where funds are insufficient to pay staff, the director should facilitate participation in training courses and seminars as a means of improving the competence of those involved. The director must have full internal administrative authority and direct access to the governing body to whom he/she is responsible.
- Educational role - Every opportunity must be developed for the museum to be used as air educational resource by all sections of the public.
- Publications and publicity - Museums should publicise and promote their activities to maintain a broad level of public involvement. They should publish catalogues of their collections to facilitate greater understanding and appreciation of the aims of the collections and the objects contained in them.
- Public access - The public must have access to the displays during reasonable hours for regular periods, reasonable access to staff and to undisplayed collections by appointment or other arrangement, and full access to information about collections.
- Physical access - Museums must provide the best possible access and facilities to cater for the needs of disabled people. In the planning of a new building, the museum must follow appropriate standards.
- Uses of the institution - Temporary exhibitions and all other special events must be in accordance with a stated policy relevant to the collections and must not compromise the quality of those collections. Commercial support and sponsorship - A museum using commercial support and sponsorship for its collections and activities must ensure that the standards, goals and integrity of the museum are not compromised by such a relationship. While commercial sponsors of a museum collection and its activities should be acknowledged, their names and logos should be less prominent than those of the museum in all related promotional material.
- Museum shops and commercial activities - Such programs and their publicity must be in accordance with a stated policy relevant to the collections and the basic educational purpose of the museum, and must not compromise the quality of those collections. Wares for sale in museum shops must be validly acquired and of proven authenticity. Reproductions of objects on display and on sale, including postcards and reproductive prints, should provide a proper and accurate representation of those objects.
- Community and multicultural involvement - Encouragement should be given to the general community and to specific individuals and groups within it to become actively involved in museums and to support their aims and policies. There should be consultation with ethnic groups and indigenous peoples (or their nominated representatives) as to the context in which their objects are to be displayed and whether they are to be displayed at all.
- Disposal of material property - In the event of its dissolution, the museum in its constitution should make provision for the disposal of property and collections to properly constituted organisations with similar aims.
- Each museum authority should adopt and publish a written statement of its acquisitions policy. This policy should be reviewed from time to time and acquisitions outside the current stated policy should only be made in very exceptional circumstances.
- Museums Australia fully supports the international efforts of UNESCO, ICOM and other organisations to control and eliminate international trafficking in stolen and/or illegally exported works of art (particularly of indigenous peoples), antiquities, endangered or protected animal and plant species, and any other museum objects.
- Museums Australia supports the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, 1970. Each museum should comply with the terms and ethical principles of the Convention so far as these are applicable to an individual museum authority. The Australian Government is a signatory to this Convention.
- CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PRIMARY REFERENCE DOCUMENT THAT STATES ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES
- Research is one of a museum's most important functions. Curators should spend as much time as possible documenting and interpreting collections. A clear policy should exist concerning research and the publication of research findings, which should be disseminated beyond the museum where appropriate.
- As a rule, research done by a curator is the property of the museum employing that curator. Some exceptions do exist, especially work done on private time. If a museum does not wish to publish a body of work done by one of its curators, that curator is free to publish it elsewhere with the understanding that fees and/or royalties should be shared between the curator and the museum which has sponsored the research.
DISPOSAL OF COLLECTIONS
By definition, one of the key functions of a museum is to acquire objects and keep them for posterity.
Consequently there must be a strong presumption against the disposal of any items in the collections of
a museum.
Where the museum has legislation regarding disposal, or has acquired objects subject to conditions of
disposal, these requirements must be complied with. Even where general powers of disposal exist, a museum may not be completely free to dispose of items
acquired:
- Where financial assistance has been obtained from an outside source (e.g. government grantin- aid, friends of the museum organisation, private benefactor), disposal may require the consent of all parties who had contributed to the purchase or controlled the bequest.
- In those cases where a museum is free to dispose of an object (e.g., by virtue of a local Act of Parliament or High Court decision), any steps to sell or otherwise dispose of material from the collections should be taken only after due consideration, and such material might well be offered first, by exchange, gift or private treaty sale, to other museums before sale by public auction or other means is considered.
- A decision to dispose of any object should be the responsibility of the governing body of the museum, not of the curator of the collection concerned acting alone.
- No object should be deaccessioned without the written recommendation of the relevant curator. Full records should be kept of all such decisions and the objects involved, and proper arrangements made for the preservation and/or transfer, as appropriate, of the documentation relating to the object concerned, including photographic records.
- Any monies received by the governing body from the disposal of objects should be applied solely for the upgrading of the collection either by purchase or by conservation.
PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
PRINCIPLES: Museum officers have obligations not only to museum objects but also to the owners and/or custodians of those
objects and to their institution, to their colleagues and their profession, and to the public as a whole in their own
country and world-wide. CLICK HERE to go to the CAMA source document.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MUSEUM OFFICER TO THE
COLLECTIONS
The officer should ensure that all items accepted temporarily or permanently by the museum are
properly and fully documented to facilitate provenance, identification, condition and treatment. CLICK HERE to go to the CAMA source document.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MUSEUM OFFICER TO THE PUBLIC
In their relations with the public, museum officers should accept such opportunity as may be presented
or sought to educate the public in the aims, desires and purposes of their profession in order that a
better popular understanding of its purpose and responsibilities may be established. CLICK HERE to go to the CAMA source document.
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MUSEUM OFFICER TO THE EMPLOYING
AUTHORITY A museum officer may enter into agreements with individuals or organisations to provide professional
services, provided that the contracts or agreements do not contravene the principles of ethics laid down
or implied in this Code, are performed outside museum time and provided such right of private practice is
in accord with museum policy, and is approved by the director. CLICK HERE to go to the CAMA source document.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MUSEUM OFFICER TO HIS OR HER
COLLEAGUES AND THE PROFESSION
Museum officers have the obligation to share their knowledge and experience with their colleagues, and
with scholars, students or collectors in relevant fields. They should show their appreciation and respect
to those from whom they have learned and should present without thought of personal gain such
advancements in techniques and experience which may be of benefit to others. CLICK HERE to go to the CAMA source document.
MUSEUM ORGANISATION
The director should be directly responsible and have direct access to the governing body in which
trusteeship of the museum is vested, and may be a member of it. The members of the governing body should trust the judgement of the director, be loyal to the
director, and give sympathetic consideration to the director's recommendations. The director
must be loyal to the governing body and so act to inspire its confidence. CLICK HERE to go to the CAMA source document.
ABUSE OF PROFESSIONAL POSITION TO FURTHER IMPROPER
ASSOCIATIONS Every museum officer should at all times avoid situations which could be construed as an abuse of the
officer's professional position. No museum officer, by virtue of his or her position, should accept any gift, or any form of reward from any
dealer, auctioneer, or other person as an improper inducement in respect of purchase or disposal of
museum items. The intention is that neither the museum nor the museum officer should be compromised. CLICK HERE to go to the CAMA source document.
OFFENCES
A member of the museum profession should always conduct himself or herself in a manner which shall not
bring dishonour or disrepute to the profession. Serious breaches by museum officers of this Code of Ethics may lead Museums Australia to recommend
disciplinary action or ultimately expulsion of individuals or institutions. Procedure for expulsion of members is described in rule 11 of the Constitution and Rules of Museums
Australia (added August 1994).
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