Guest blogger Sally
Yerkovich is director of the Institute of Museum Ethics, founded at Seton Hall
University in 2007. The Institute promotes accountability, responsibility, and
sustainability in museums by:convening conversations about critical ethical issues
facing museums today, and creating a physical and virtual community of emerging and
practicing museum professionals and museum studies faculty who can use our resources to
make informed decisions about ethical matters. This post is the first in our series of
posts from accepted Museums and Politics conference speakers. Sally will be speaking on
“Is there a Future for Museum Ethics?” and, as you’ll see, there’s
much to ponder. We’re particularly interested in hearing perspectives from around
the world. Please share your comments!
Since its inception, the Institute has hosted three international conferences and a
number of lectures. It has also generated courses on museum ethics and cultural
heritage, initiated dialogues about contemporary ethical issues for museums through
its website and listserv, and collaborated with the Center for the Future of Museums
of the American Association of Museums on a nationwide forecasting exercise on
future ethical issues.
The Institute maintains a LinkedIn group for discussions about museum ethics in the
news as well as Facebook and Twitter accounts. We post news articles on www.museumethics.org
regularly and also maintain a listserv. The Institute offers confidential
consultations regarding ethical issues in museums.
The Institute of Museum Ethics maintains that ethical issues underpin all aspects of
work in museums — from governance to education, registration to exhibitions,
finances to operations and visitor services.
Whether in day-to-day decision-making or forging an overarching mission, museum
ethics are about an institution’s relationship with people — individuals and groups
in the communities a museum serves as well as its staff and board members.
We define museum ethics through principles of conduct related to individual and
institutional behavior, such as integrity, accountability, loyalty, honesty, and
responsibility. We provide the tools to identify operative ethical principles, and
we keep abreast of issues in the field as well as larger societal changes in order
to anticipate the emergence of circumstances that might have an impact upon ethical
practice in museums. Continue reading →
London’s Foundling Museum reaches settlement with its connected children’s charity.
