**DRAFT**
Please review this document and send feedback to: feedback@manl.nf.ca
General Recommendations for Writing Policy and Procedures:
• Every museum needs to develop policies specific to their institution.
• All policies need to be consistent with the museum’s mission statement, functions and operations.
• Where a museum is part of a parent organization, their policies need to be consistent with the purpose and objectives of the parent body.
• Every museum should develop policies and procedures specific to their institution.
• Policies should be realistic and should reflect actual goals and objectives. Procedures should reflect the actual activities of the museum and not those activities that they would like to do. If your current polices and operations do not reflect current museum standards and best practices, re-evaluate them adjust them in practice and not only theory.
About This Resource
Our Goal
When a museum board begins the process of writing the museum’s policy and procedures documents it can be a daunting task. Understanding what is expected of you, what information to provide and even the size of the document can discourage even the most motivated board members. The goal of Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Best Practices Committee is to provide assistance to museums in the development of their own policy and procedure documents. To do this MANL has attempted to provide various resources and examples that are consistent with national and international museum standards and best practices.
Making the Most of this Resource
This resource should be used as a supplement to the MANL Publication Guidelines or the Operations of Community Museums in Newfoundland and Labrador. This publication provides valuable information on the standards and best practices in museum operations and includes a practical workbook that will help each museum evaluate and record their individual goals and practices. Used with these guidelines, the following resource will provide actual examples of policy and procedure documents as well as sources of additional reading on various topics.
Important Note:
While there are many types of policy and procedures included in this resource, it is expected that each museum will select those policies and procedures that reflect the operations of their museum. A museum with two staff members will not require a substantial Human Resource policy; a small community museum will not require extensive public relations and communications polices and procedures.
In some sections of this resource “templates” have been provided. These templates should serve as outlines to assist you in writing your own documents. Remember: Every museum needs to develop policies and procedures specific to their institution. There are no universal templates that can be applied to all museums and they should not be copied from another organization.
The Format:
In the following pages various museum operations have been divided into sections. Within each section are brief descriptions and lists of resources, templates and examples. These resources have been collected from national and international sources with the needs of the small to medium size museum in mind. They have also been collected from various types of
museums and heritage institutions. The intention is that each museum can utilize resources that best reflect their individual institution.
Using This Resource
Selecting a Topic from our Table of Contents
Choose a topic you wish to explore from the Table of Contents below. Place your cursor on the topic and press ctrl and left click mouse to view.
Read our introduction to the topic and explore the resources and examples available.
Online Resources and Examples
Some resources and examples in the following documents are available only via the internet. Place your cursor on the URL link for those documents that you would like to view and press ctrl and left click mouse to view.
Offline Resources and Examples
Some resources and examples in the following documents are available offline. Place your cursor on the title of those documents that you would like to view and press ctrl and left click mouse to view.
Additional Resources
We have provided a list of both Online Resources and Print Resources if you require further reading on a particular topic. For our Online Resources place your cursor on the URL link for those documents that you would like to view and press ctrl and left click mouse to view.
Please Note:
As these documents were collected at the date indicated they may be subject to change. Where possible, we have provided the name and the URL of the museum so that you can review the museum and view their most recent documents.
Practical Resources for Developing Museum Policy and Procedures
See ICOM - Code of Ethics for Museums: http://icom.museum/ethics.html#intro and CMA Ethical Guidelines: http://www.museums.ca/media/Pdf/ethicsguidelines.pdf
Table of Contents:
Select a topic to view as a PDF: