 |
 |
|
November 2008
|
|
> Expand all menus ^ Collapse all menus |
|
|
|
|
|
'This is an area of concern for many museums, and therefore something that we need to examine more closely,' said Caitlin Griffiths, the MA's adviser on professional issues. The act gives a general right of access to information held by public authorities. But because the act is still in its infancy many public bodies are unsure what information must be divulged on request and what is exempt. Newspapers, in particular, are testing the law, and it will become clear over time whether museums will be required to give up previously undisclosed information such as insurance valuations. Recently, the South Wales Evening Post ran a negative story about the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery after its reporter's request for a list of works of art worth more than £50,000 held by the gallery was turned down. Swansea Council, which oversees the gallery, consulted the local police before making the decision to turn down the request under section 31 of the act (disclosure of information likely to prejudice the prevention of crime), and section 43 of the act (disclosure of information likely to prejudice the commercial interests of any person). According to a spokesman for Swansea Council, the decision was also informed by the MA's code of ethics, which states: 'Encourage public appreciation of the cultural rather than financial value of items. Refuse to put a financial value on items for the public. (Valuation for a museum's own internal management processes, such as insurance and acquisition is ethical.)' The newspaper stated that it would complain to the Information Commissioner, but Swansea Council confirmed that they had not yet received a formal complaint. Terry Marshall, the finance manager for the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, said that a local authority museum in England had called him for advice on exactly the same issue: 'This wasn't the first and it won't be the last call about this,' he said. 'This is the sort of information that newspapers are interested in. It breaches ethical values, but there is no way round it.' Lawyers for the local authority were looking into it, he said, but were 'not optimistic'. Geoffrey Lewis, a former chairman of the International Council of Museums ethics committee, noted that other EU countries had similar laws, but in practice did not usually divulge information of this sort. He also pointed to the American Association of Museums code of ethics, which has a clause stating 'access to the collections and related information is permitted and regulated'. This 'clearly means that it is not unrestricted open access', he said. He advises museums facing Freedom of Information challenges to 'build up a pattern of current practice' which can be presented in defence to the Information Commissioner. Caitlin Griffiths stressed: 'The MA's code of ethics is not above the law. The code is about public access to information, but we value the cultural worth of objects over their financial worth. 'The full implications of the Freedom of Information Act are not yet clear, but when the implications become clearer we may revisit the advice that we offer to museums.' To contact Caitlin Griffiths, please email caitlin@museumsassociation.org ^ TOP
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
