Historical Commission Agenda and Packet 2015 07 01

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Louisville Historical Museum Collections Management Policy Draft — June 2015 c. Visitors may access collections only with permission and under conditions that ensure the safety of the collections. No food or drink will be allowed while accessing collections items. Only pencils should be used for making notes while accessing collections items. d. Items in the collections may not be used for purposes outside the mission of the Museum. They may not be loaned to staff, organizations, or other parties for personal purposes. 6. Loans — Incoming and Outgoing Although the Museum staff and Historical Commission may in the future decide that the Museum may engage in incoming or outgoing loans and adopt a policy to govern such loans, at this time the Museum shall not participate in either incoming or outgoing loans. 7. Deaccession Policy & Procedure Museums at times find it necessary to deaccession items from collections. 7.1 Authority and Procedure for Deaccessioning a. For an item in the permanent collection, the Museum Coordinator shall make a recommendation to deaccession to the Historical Commission. If an item is determined to be unsuitable for the permanent collection, thorough research into the circumstances of its acquistion and into any legal and ethical restrictions will be carried out before the Museum Coordinator makes a final recommendation for deaccession. The Historical Commission decides whether to approve the recommendation to deaccession from the permanent collection. b. For an item in the education collection or reference collection, the Museum Coordinator may approve the deaccession of the item after determining that the item is not suitable. It is intended that the items in the education collection and reference collection are to be handled by the public, and will therefore suffer deterioration and breakage from use. Museum staff will maintain thorough records of deaccession with respect to items from any of the collections. 7.2 Reasons for Deaccessioning a. Non - relevance: Any item no longer relevant or compatible with the Museum's mission statement may be approved for deaccessioning. These circumstances may arise from a change in the Museum's mission statement. b. Maintenance: Any item that cannot be properly stored, preserved, or used in a manner that ensures its integrity may be approved for deaccessioning. This situation may result from undue size, excessive quantities of similar artifacts, fragility, or other unique circumstances. c. Deterioration: Any artifact subject to irreversible deterioration, infestation, or inherent hazards that may imperial the condition of other artifacts or people may be approved for deaccessioning, and disposed of by destruction or discard. 10