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Museums Policy Statement: Notice

The Council and the General Board have approved the following statement of policy for the University's museums:

1. This statement applies to the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, the Museum of Zoology, the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Kettle's Yard, the Museum of the Scott Polar Research Institute, and to the collections held by the Botanic Garden and the Herbarium. Some of these answer directly to the central University authorities, others through Departments or Faculties, support of whose work both directly and indirectly is their prime function.

2. The University's museums are major foci of University teaching and research. They are also a valuable research and educational resource locally, nationally, and internationally. They also provide an unrivalled opportunity to present the University's work to a wide audience.

3. The University acknowledges the over-riding duty to care for its collections to the highest practicable standard and, where appropriate and within the resources available, to augment them.

4. The majority of the University's museums are Registered by the Re:source (The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries) and several are Designated by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as holding exceptionally important collections. These museums, as befits the status of their collections, will contribute to the setting of national standards. In selecting items for acquisition or exhibition, the University will in all cases observe internationally recognized ethical criteria.

5. The University recognizes that the collections of its museums represent major components of the national and international heritage. It acknowledges the duty to make these collections available as widely as possible without compromising the museums' functions in University teaching and research.

6. Subject to the limitations noted in the previous paragraph, the University will:

(i) encourage access to its collections and their documentation by bona fide researchers;
(ii) use its best endeavours to maximize public access to the collections;
(iii) seek to make items from its collections available for loan to appropriate institutions throughout the world;
(iv) support national and international organizations working to develop museums interests;
(v) within the existing framework and in collaboration with other bodies, make particular efforts to enhance museum facilities in the City of Cambridge as a resource for life-long learning and cultural recreation in the region.

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Cambridge University Reporter, 6 December 2000
Copyright © 2000 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.