Northern Ireland Museums Council
Discussion Paper:
Local Government reorganisation
and museum collections
2014
Introduction
As part of local government reform, the number of councils in Northern Ireland has been
reduced from 26 to 11, with the aim of creating stronger more efficient councils delivering
additional services while being responsive to the needs, aspirations and concerns of
citizens: in short, to be more “citizen-focused.”
In May 2014 the members were elected to the 11 new councils created under the Local
Government (Northern Ireland) Act 2014. The new councils will operate in shadow form
alongside the current 26 councils until they take over on 1 April 2015. During the intervening
period the current councils will continue to deliver their services, but significant work will be
undertaken in preparation for the new councils coming on stream. This will include approving
business and financial plans for the various existing and new service areas, setting rates for
2015-16, appointing senior staff and leading cooperation between merging councils. The
councils will also have to agree their new organisational and service delivery structures.
Museums form a vital and integral part of the services provided by most of the current
councils and in preparation for the reform of local government, the Northern Ireland
Museums Council issued a report The Future of Local Museum Service in Northern Ireland
(2012) that analysed the potential impact of the change and presented a series of nine
recommendations for consideration by councils by way of preparing and strengthening
museum services. This report is available at http://www.nimc.co.uk/research-andpublications/
Fundamentally, local government reform will change the way museums are run, how they
deliver their services and how their collections will be developed. The new dispensation in
local government stresses more ‘citizen focused’ service provision and community planning;
thus local museums will need to explore further ways in which to consult with their visitors
and users and ensure they provide programmes that advance the cultural, social and
economic agendas, particularly in relation to promoting equality and tackling social
exclusion.
By definition museums operate to educate, inspire and entertain people through their
engagement with collections. To carry out this duty successfully, museums will need to
identify and address the various collections management issues arising from and
consequent to local government reform.
The purpose of this discussion paper is to set out the considerations around
Local Government reorganisation and museum collections
in preparation for a discussion at a meeting of the Museum Forum on how the issues may
best be addressed.
It is likely that NIMC will use future meetings of the Museum Forum to separately examine
the issues around museum services, the use of museum collections, museums’ input to the
community planning process, and the sector’s role within the wider heritage duties and new
powers of councils.
Policy Setting
The current policy imperative for museums is bounded by the vision and ambition for the
sector as set out in the Northern Ireland Museums Policy, which is an integral part of the
Programme for Government 2011-15, namely,
“to encourage the presentation and interpretation of collections with sensitivity, flair and
imagination and facilitate continuous dialogue with their visitors and users, constantly
seeking and finding ways to engage with new and diverse audiences.”
Through the Programme for Government the Northern Ireland Executive has articulated a
series of priorities centred on Growing a Sustainable Economy and Investing in the Future;
Creating Opportunities, Tackling Disadvantage and Improving Health and Well-being;
Protecting our People, the Environment and Creating Safer Communities; and, Building a
Strong and Shared Community.
In pursuit of these aims, the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure has emphasised her
Department’s priorities as promoting social and economic equality and to tackling poverty
and social exclusion. This focus is mirrored as part of the community planning duty of the 11
new councils that aims to improve the quality of life for people, communities and
neighbourhoods (See: Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 2014, Part 10, 66. 3(a) and
(b).), with ‘community planning’ providing a framework for councils, central government
departments, statutory bodies, the third and business sectors, and other relevant agencies to
work together and engage with communities to develop a shared vision for promoting
wellbeing.
To be in the optimum position to meet these aims and participate in the associated planning
processes, local museums currently being operated by councils will need to pay particular
attention to addressing a range of governance and collections management matters,
especially in the lead up to the 1st April 2015.
Museum Accreditation
In the UK the Accreditation Scheme is the museum sector standard. It covers organisational
health, collections and user experience. NIMC administers the standard for local museums,
which is a basis upon which it funds museums through its grant programmes. The Council
will continue to manage the scheme and provide associated assistance.
By September 2014 all local museums in Northern Ireland will have been assessed under
the latest iteration of the scheme. Currently there are 38 local museums recognised as
meeting the standards, of which 19 at operated by local councils and 19 are independent
and voluntary-run.
The areas listed below that will need to be considered as part of the reorganisation process
take into consideration the requirements of the Accreditation standard and the ‘areas for
improvement’ given to these local museums.
It is recommended that the Accreditation standard, together with the goals of the Northern
Ireland Museums policy that relate to collections are used as touchstones in addressing
what needs to be done.
Governance
Ownership and Transfer of Title
The question of ownership is of primary importance and the process, scope and timing of the
transfer of the museum collections to the new councils will need to be considered very early
in the transition process.
Currently the museum collections of council-run local museums are legally owned by the
existing councils, and will likely move to the new councils under the general arrangements
that will be put in place for the transfer of assets and liabilities. These have yet to be defined,
although the Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 2014, Part 16, 122. defines certain
schemes for the transfer of assets and liabilities, including that by which the Department of
Culture, Arts and Leisure may transfer designated assets or liabilities of the Board of
Trustees of the National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland relating to Armagh
County Museum to the council for the district of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon.
Insurance
It is recommended that the matters pertaining to insuring the museum collections is agreed
prior to transfer, to ensure that the most suitable arrangements are in place and that
collections are not inadvertently left without the appropriate level of cover.
Heritage Assets and Valuation
While the inclusion of ‘Heritage Assets’ on accounts is not a requirement of Accreditation,
many organisations are looking at specifying collections as heritage assets on balance
sheets in line with Financial Reporting Standard 30. Meeting this standard requires some
form of valuation of the assets, which in itself throws up various questions regarding the
frequency, availability source and associated costs
See https://www.frc.org.uk/getattachment/11989f89-363e-474e-abab-d54917239e28/FRS30-Heritage-Assets-(June-2009).aspx
Matters related to heritage assets will need to be examined as part of the transfer of title
process.
Loans
Many museums will supplement their own collections with loans from other institutions.
These are usually bilateral, with written agreements setting out the parties to the agreement,
the length of time for which the loan will be granted, any associated special conditions and
the processes for operating and monitoring the arrangement. The reorganisation of local
government will require council-run museums to revisit all current loan agreements to ensure
that their arrangements and conditions are valid, can still be met, or that the loan
arrangements are altered or terminated with the mutual agreement of the lender.
Similarly, some museums may have lent artefacts to other institutions and it will be
necessary to review these loan agreements too.
Questions
1.
Are these matters being addressed currently?
2.
At what level within councils are these issues being looked at?
3.
What is the timescale for consideration?
4.
Are there other matters associated with the transfer of collections that need to
be looked at?
Collections
Collecting Policies
The Museum Accreditation Standard requires each museum to have an approved policy for
developing collections. This must include:
 A Statement of purpose
 An overview of current collections
 The future themes for collecting
 The themes and priorities for rationalisation and disposal
 And Information on the legal framework for acquisition and disposal
In light of the fact that all council-run museums in Northern Ireland define their collecting
focus geographically, defined by the council boundary in the main, each will need to review
the scope of their collecting policies and have their new council agree a new policy. The
same will apply to any thematic aspect of extant policies.
Policy Context
Accreditation expects a museum’s Collections Development Policy to be linked to the
forward plan and corporate plan of the governing body. Accordingly, evidence of how the
museum’s work contributes to a council’s wider aims and objectives will be required, and this
is likely to encompass the new community planning imperative, together with such drivers as
the Programme for Government, the concern for promoting equality and tackling poverty and
social exclusion and the Northern Ireland Museums Policy.
Acquisitions, Disposals and Rationalisation
The reorganisation of local government will see, in most of the 11 new councils, various
museum collections being brought together under one museum service. As well as the
associated collections management issues (which are looked at in the next section of this
paper) museum staff will need to purposefully examine and deal with such matters as;
 dealing with unaccessioned items within existing museum collections,
 taking custody of non-museum objects and collections (for example, civic collections
or departmental archives),
 establishing protocols for dealing with duplicates, overlaps and gaps in amalgamated
museum collections,
 continuing the liaison with the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland regarding the
appropriate handling of civic records,
 checking the conditions around any donations, examining whether or not the
changes in governance will have an impact on donations and keeping donors
informed of issues and outcomes.
Transfer of Records
Early consideration will need to be given to allocating responsibility for the transfer,
consolidation and maintenance of museum collection records: where will these to be
securely held, who will have and need access to them, and how the associated ICT and
technical issues will be addressed?
Questions
1.
Is it evident and agreed that these matters need to be addressed?
2.
Who will be allocated the responsibility for completing the associated tasks?
3.
Are there any resource implications, and if so will these be made available?
4.
What is the timescale for completing the tasks required?
Collections Management
Over the last ten years NIMC has collated information on the standards attained across the
five areas of collections management and care at local museums. This was published in the
Council’s report Mapping Trends in Northern Ireland’s Local Museums (2012), in which the
responses museums made to a series of questions were matched against the range
statements to arrive at a ‘score’. As part of the process of the transfer of collections, NIMC is
able to provide a detailed breakdown of the performance for each museum upon request.
Museum Environment
Maintaining the appropriate environmental conditions within museums is a primary means of
protecting and preserving collections, while on display or in storage. Museums are expected
to monitor the common factors which might cause deterioration in the condition of objects,
particularly temperature, humidity, lux and ultraviolet light levels, and to take steps to control
the environmental conditions in which collections are held.
The mean scores for local museums concerning their environmental control moved from 3.4
(2005), to 3.5 (2007) and to 4.75 (2011), indicating a notable improvement across the sector.
Just under 50% of local museums now hold collections that require particular environmental
controls.
Housekeeping
Housekeeping is the generic term for the care, handling, cleaning and the means by which
collections are protected, preserved and kept free of pest infestation.
The mean scores for local museums on housekeeping moved from 3.4 (2005), to 3.8 (2007)
and to 4.32 (2011), indicating a gradual improvement across the sector.
82% of museums have staff trained in basic object cleaning, with 87% of museums having
staff training in object handling.
All local museums indicated that they had knowledge of pests and how to spot their
presence, carried out occasional inspections for pests, and inspected objects as they
entered the building.
Storage
There are two critical aspects to storing collections. On the one hand, ensuring that there is
sufficient space to accommodate the current collections and to allow the museum to collect
across future years, and on the other hand, the conditions in which objects are stored, with a
particular emphasis upon the use of suitable materials that meet the requirements of the
collection.
The mean scores for storage at local museums moved from 3.0 (2005), to 3.4 (2007) and to
4.0 (2011), indicating a gradual improvement across the sector since the first survey.
While the vast majority of museums have an identified, secure storage area, the 2011 survey
identified that more than half of local museums do not have storage that is suitable for their
current collections, with only two thirds of museums using conservation grade packing
materials throughout.
Documentation
Documentation is the collection and management of the information and data on the objects
within a museum's collection. The SPECTRUM procedures are the recognised industry
standard for documentation covering the gathering, recording and storage of supplementary
information about collections, and are cited as a requirement within the Museum
Accreditation standard.
The mean scores for collections documentation moved from 1.7 (2005), to 2.8 (2007) and to
4.56 (2011), indicating a significant improvement.
While the majority of museums have staff trained in their documentation systems that meet
the required Spectrum Standards, and most have a Documentation procedures manual, less
than half of local museums stated in 2011 that their documentation was full and complete.
Indeed, it is obvious that documentation remains a critical issue for local museums, with 95%
of local museums currently recognised under the Museum Accreditation scheme being
assigned ‘areas of improvement’ regarding collections documentation.
With the transfer of title being a major area of concern for museum collections within the
local government change, there is a danger that associated issues could be compounded
through inadequate collections’ documentation.
Allied matters also for consideration include the holding of secure copies of collections
documentation and the compatibility between digital documentation systems of museums
coming together under one local authority.
Security and Risk Assessment
A museum is duty bound to provide a secure environment for the collections, for its staff and
its visitors, balancing the need to protect objects in its care which enabling the public to
access the collections as far as possible. As well as putting appropriate physical measures
in place, a security programme should assess the risks of potential disasters and
emergencies (for visitors, staff, buildings and collections), incorporate a building
maintenance programme, and a plan to deal with a variety of emergency situations.
The mean scores for local museums’ security moved from 3.5 (2005), to 4.1 (2007) and to
4.9 (2011), indicating a gradual improvement across the sector.
An ongoing concern for the sector is the lack of access to expert advice on museum
security, beyond the guidance provided by local crime prevention officers. And, where such
advice was given, there is a notable lack of resources available to address the
improvements recommended.
In 2011 most museums indicated that they had an emergency plan in place. These will need
to be reassessed in light of the structural changes to councils. There is a danger that within
the change process the previous arrangements for dealing with an emergency could
inadvertently lapse, but with a need for the new councils to reconfigure local disaster plans
an opportunity may exist to embed museum requirements within such plans.
Questions
1.
Performance across the main aspects of collections management is relatively
good. Are there particular issues at your museum(s)?
2.
It is obvious that Documentation is a specific and evident issue. How might
this be addressed?
3.
How are specific issues concerning the storage, documentation, the security of
collections and emergency planning to be addressed?