Dear All,
I am currently doing some research regarding different types of Collections Access Policies that are practiced by museums and other cultural institutions, especially in North America. I am focusing on the Curatorial and Education departments having access to the Permanent Collection as well as the general public.
I was wondering if you are willing to share a copy of your institution's Collections Access Policy with us at the Aga Khan Museum.
If you do not wish to share the document, can you please answer these questions:
1) How big is your Permanent Collection?
2) Does your Curatorial and Education departments have full access to your Collections area and the vaults? And by full access I mean, the curators and educators can take out artifacts, handle them on their own, and place them back in the vault, without any members of your Collections team being present.
3) If yes, how do you keep track of who has had access, what they have handled, and if they have placed the artifacts back in their correct location?
4) If there are any incidents in the vault while the staff are handling objects, how are they recorded and brought to your attention?
5) As for general public, can anyone request to view your collection in person? Or would they have to be associated with a cultural institution or school?
6) If public does have access, are they able to request and see any artifact in the collection? Or can they only view certain pieces? At any given time, can they handle the artifacts on their own?
I really appreciate your responses.
Many thanks,
Ghazaleh
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Ghazaleh Rabiei
Collections Manager
Aga Khan Museum
North York ON
(416) 646-4677 (7722)
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