Historical Commission Agenda and Packet 2016 08 03 JT

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Page 28 of 150 development. The 2004 CAP Report expressed that storing the collections in the Jordinelli House was an "excellent" short-term solution, and its primary concern was with a lack of adequate space for growth and for public/research access, not with the Jordinelli House having poor conditions for collection storage. Another storage -related strength is that the City's ability to store the Museum collections on site leads to access, efficiencies, and regular oversight of the storage conditions. Donors certainly view this as a strength, as some have indicated that they would not want their donations to be stored in a remote location where many items would not realistically be seen or viewed by the public again for a long time. Even now, the Museum staff works with or consults items in the collections several times a week. With a new emphasis on heightening the levels of public activity and engagement at the Museum campus, there will be an increased need to change exhibits more frequently. The Museum staff's ability to access to the collections to locate items and switch them in and out of exhibits or to use in programming such as the First Friday Art Walks will become more important than ever. Challenges of the Site The Needs Assessment Report of Metcalfe Architecture & Design gives a roadmap that identifies many of the challenges of the Museum's site and how to best address them. Some of the challenges are also described here because of the impediments that they present to fulfilling the mission of the Museum. • The historical nature of the Museum's buildings means that the City does not have the same obligations to provide ADA accessibility as it would with respect to newer public buildings, but this doesn't mean that the City should not provide as much ADA accessibility to visitors and staff as is possible, and as soon as possible, at its public Museum. The Museum should be highly accessible. Improved ADA accessibility of the existing buildings, combined with accessibility features of the new Community House building that will include a new restroom and elevator, will help meet this challenge. • The Museum buildings, due to their small sizes and lack of ADA accessibility, cannot be used as public buildings for meetings (such as those of the Historical Commission) or for the many historical programs that the Museum staff organizes for the public. Commission meetings, History Book Club meetings, and historical programs are instead are held in other City buildings besides the Museum, a situation that has led to confusion by the public as to where a Museum program or meeting is taking place. Metcalfe recommended that the new Community House building include programming space for about 30 people that will allow for public meetings and historical programs to take place at the Museum instead of in an off-site location. • The facts that there are several buildings to show with limited staff, and that there are varying needs of the public that uses the Museum and a need for security of artifacts, can lead to less than optimal situations. For example, someone who comes to the Museum to conduct research at the table in the Jacoe Store must be brought along on tours to the other buildings so that they are not left alone in a Museum building with access to the collections, if there is not a volunteer available to stay with the researcher. Fortunately, good communication and explanations as well as positive attitudes by all concerned go a long way towards helping what could be a frustrating experience for some visitors. Increased levels of funding for operations that would allow there to be a staff member or volunteer working in each building, and a 20