{"id":11934,"date":"2015-02-17T19:16:01","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T00:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservators-converse.org\/?p=11934"},"modified":"2015-02-17T19:16:01","modified_gmt":"2015-02-18T00:16:01","slug":"direct-care-and-conservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/2015\/02\/17\/direct-care-and-conservation\/","title":{"rendered":""Direct care" and Conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting today, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is conducting an online survey on \u201cdirect care,\u201d an issue of extreme relevance to conservators and one that could have a major impact on the future of the conservation field.
\nAs most conservators are aware, deaccessioning museum objects is a complicated topic.\u00a0 Currently the AAM\u2019s Code of Ethics says: \u201cdisposal of collections through sale, trade or research activities is solely for the advancement of the museum’s mission. Proceeds from the sale of nonliving collections are to be used consistent with the established standards of the museum’s discipline, but in no event shall they be used for anything other than acquisition or direct care of collections.\u201d
\nWhile it is commonly understood that funds from deaccessioning should not be used for normal operating expenses, what does the term \u201cdirect care\u201d mean?\u00a0 Does \u201cdirect care\u201d mean conservation, and if so, could these funds be spent on conservation treatments?\u00a0 Or does \u201cdirect care\u201d only mean preventive conservation?\u00a0 Either way, does \u201cdirect care\u201d include conservation salaries? \u00a0Because the term \u201cdirect care\u201d is vague, the AAM has established the Direct Care Task Force to clarify the term and make new recommendations.\u00a0 Of course, each museum may have its own, more specific, guidelines and procedures.\u00a0 And while the AASLH also allows for money from the deaccessioning to be spent on \u201cpreservation,\u201d the AAMD has stricter guidelines, allowing only for money to be spent on new acquisitions.
\nWhat does this have to do with conservation?\u00a0 If the definition of \u201cdirect care\u201d were expanded to explicitly include conservation, more funding would potentially be available for conservation.\u00a0 But deaccessioning is already ethically challenging; conservators don\u2019t want to be put in a position of seeming to encourage deaccessioning or to violate our own code of ethics, with our primary goal being the preservation of cultural property.
\nThis important issue calls for dialogue \u2013 both among conservators and with our museum colleagues.\u00a0 AAM\u2019s task force unfortunately does not include any conservators, so we must express our voice in other ways.
\nLinks:
\nAAM Direct Care Task Force
\nhttp:\/\/aam-us.org\/resources\/ethics-standards-and-best-practices\/direct-care-task-force<\/a>
\n 
\nAAM Code of Ethics:
\nhttp:\/\/aam-us.org\/resources\/ethics-standards-and-best-practices\/code-of-ethics<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starting today, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is conducting an online survey on \u201cdirect care,\u201d an issue of extreme relevance to conservators and one that could have a major impact on the future of the conservation field. As most conservators are aware, deaccessioning museum objects is a complicated topic.\u00a0 Currently the AAM\u2019s Code of … Continue reading “"Direct care" and Conservation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,25,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allied-organizations","category-collectioncare","category-ethics-and-standards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}