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November 2008
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3.0 Museums have the generosity of spirit to be approachable at every point of contact, to reach out to audiences and to increase access to their collections. As educational institutions, museums encourage a participative approach to learning. However specialised their subjects or remote their locations, they develop new audiences and deepen relationships with existing users. Museums recognise that individuals have varied backgrounds and varying physical, intellectual and cultural needs and expectations. All those who work for or govern museums should ensure that they: 3.1 Improve the quality of experience for all users. 3.2 Recognise the diversity and complexity of society and uphold the principle of equal opportunities for all. 3.3 Develop and promote the museum to appeal to an ever broader and more varied audience. Aim to provide something of interest to every potential user. 3.4 Promote public awareness, understanding and appreciation of the museum. Promote the educational role of the museum in its widest sense and cater for a broad range of interest levels and abilities. 3.5 Take account of individuals’ differing educational experiences, learning styles, abilities and ways of understanding. Provide a choice of types and levels of access. 3.6 Respond to the diverse requirements of different cultural groups. 3.7 Respond to the needs and wishes of people with disabilities. Have in place effective systems to ensure that buildings, displays and other services are increasingly accessible to people with physical, sensory or learning disabilities. 3.8 Take account of present and potential users’ ability and willingness to visit if admission or other charges are levied. 3.9 Make provision for those who are not currently prepared or able to visit. Use a variety of means to improve access, such as outreach, publishing or websites. 3.10 Make the museum’s services available on a regular basis and at times which reflect the needs of users and potential users. Make opening times, events and other services widely known. Make explicit the levels of access available to collections, including items not on display. 3.11 Respond positively to people’s expectations of access to museum collections, whether displayed or not. Regularly review the means available to the museum to make collections more accessible, either directly or in electronic or published form. 3.12 Reconcile the museum’s role in safeguarding items for the benefit of future users with its obligation to optimise access for present users. Make explicit the criteria used if access needs to be restricted. 3.13 Make provision not just for safeguarding the collections but also for keeping them accessible whenever a building that houses collections needs to be closed or isolated. 3.14 Assist everyone who makes a reasonable request for information. Give public access to all documentation and other information held by a museum, unless the information was imparted in confidence, or it can be shown that the wider public interest demands that access be restricted (for example to protect collections or prevent abuse of sites of historic or scientific importance). 3.15 Consider restricting access to certain specified items where unrestricted access may cause offence or distress to actual or cultural descendants. Provide separate storage facilities where appropriate. (See also section 7, recognise the interests of people who made, used, owned, collected or gave items in the collections.) 3.16 Facilitate public access to the expertise of members of staff. Allow public access to unpublished research carried out on behalf of the museum unless there is a genuine need to protect the research. 3.17 Undertake identifications to the highest scholarly standards and provide as many significant facts about an item as possible. Do not conceal any lack of specialised knowledge and recommend other appropriate sources of advice to enquirers whenever possible. 3.18 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.) (See also section 5, acquire items honestly and responsibly.) 3.19 Balance provision for particular groups or individuals, such as specialist enquirers, with long-term provision for a wider audience.
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