4 AAC 58.305 - Alternative accreditation requirements

An application submitted by an institution that is not currently accredited by the American Alliance of Museums must demonstrate that the applicant institution

(1) currently maintains a certification or accreditation issued by a nationally recognized entity other than the American Alliance of Museums;

(2) operates under a curatorial and collections management plan that includes procedures for accessioning, cataloging, and deaccessioning museum property and for handling incoming and outgoing loans;

(3) has a written plan for the care of all collections and materials in case of institution closure;

(4) has a designated curator of record and staff trained in the curation and basic conservation of the collections contained in the holdings;

(5) has a written scope of collections statement that details the nature of present and future collections at the repository;

(6) has a written access plan that provides access to collections for scientific research, educational, administrative, or exhibition purposes;

(7) has procedures in place to protect confidential or sensitive information including site-specific locality information, nature of certain ethnographic collections, and objects address under 25 U.S.C. 3001 - 3013 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA);

(8) has implemented an ethics policy regarding the behavior of curatorial staff the policy must address the acquisition of personal collections, outside employment, and engagement in commercial collecting activities;

(9) stores specimens with appropriate environmental controls, including temperature and humidity, in order to prevent deterioration and minimize the need for conservation treatment;

(10) has a pest management plan and keeps the facility free of insects, vermin, mold, and mildew;

(11) forbids the consumption or storage of food and drink in the same rooms where collections are stored;

(12) protects all collection areas with both locks and alarm systems; a system must be in place that tracks all keys and security codes and identifies who is authorized to be in collections storage areas;

(13) has a fire prevention and suppression plan and equipment in place;

(14) maintains a visitor log or sign-in sheet in order to track the use of collections by non-museum staff;

(15) has a disaster preparedness plan in place which identifies known and potential hazards;

(16) separates collections storage areas from offices, employee gathering areas, and preparation and conservation laboratories, and has as few doors and windows as possible;

(17) stores collections away from utility service panels and water and sewer pipes; utility service panels and water and sewer pipes must be located outside of collections storage areas and procedure must be in place to minimize the necessity to access conduits and utility corridors from collections storage areas; however, if the construction of the building necessitates the presence of water or sewer pipes in collections areas, the applicant institution must demonstrate how the collections are protected from potential disasters resulting from catastrophic failures of the pipes;

(18) has taken steps to minimize ultraviolet light in collections areas; windows must be shuttered or covered with ultraviolet filters; lighting must be designed to minimize ultraviolet radiation;

(19) stores collections in stable and secure cabinetry with smooth moving drawers and adequate clearance above each specimen an oversized specimen may be stored on open shelving, but dust and ultraviolet covering must be considered in order to supplement protection;

(20) stores each object properly an archive must be in an archival acid-free box or folder an object or artifact must be in an ethafoam-lined box, a non-gassing polyethylene reclosable bag, a glass vial, or an other state-of-the-art container; Each object or artifact must be cradled, supported, or positioned so that damage will not occur by the object's or artifact's own weight over time or by the opening and closing of sliding drawers;

(21) has a custodial plan that addresses daily waste collection, periodic cleaning, and sanitation procedures;

(22) safely stores flammable liquids away from all archival materials;

(23) maintains accession files that contain

(A) transmittal documentation that certifies that the specific collection, object, or archive was acquired and transferred by legitimate means; documentation may include

(i) a copy of a federal permit under 50 C.F.R. Parts 10-21;

(ii) a deed of gift;

(iii) a will and testament; or

(iv) a sales receipt;

(B) a receiving report that ensures that the specific collection Falls within the repository's scope of collections statement and is approved by a museum director, curator, or other designated receiving official;

(C) pertinent contextual information.including field notes, maps, photographs, conservation or preparation records, and related archives; and

(D) administrative documentation that relates to the past, present, and future status of the collection;

(24) maintains conservation and preparation documentation that records techniques, chemicals, and treatments that have been applied to the objects, artifacts, or archives over time;

(25) has a system in place to monitor the status and location of objects while they are checked out of collections storage; the system may include outgoing loans or removal for study, conservation, preparation, or exhibit;

(26) ensures that all objects and archives display a unique catalog identification that includes the repository acronym and unique catalog number and identifies ownership;

(27) has a system in place to conduct a periodic inventory of its holdings that is at least a random sample inventory.

Notes

4 AAC 58.305

Eff. 3/6/2015, Register 213, April 2015

Authority:AS 14.07.060

AS 14.57.010

AS 14.57.012

AS 14.57.050