1.0 INTRODUCTION Kildare County Council in association - Kildare.ie

More documents

Recommendations

Info

AUDIT OF MUSEUMS AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS IN COUNTY KILDARE 2006 Six museums have labeled artifacts while a further six are not. The remainder did not answer the question. The extent of documentation of collections is varied. Seven collections are not catalogued at all. Four collections are completely catalogued, 35% of one collection is documented and catalogued, and two museums have between 70% and 99% of the collections catalogued and documented. In County Kildare the extent of documentation of collections is limited. There are however exemplars of cataloguing of collections which could be adopted by other less formulated collections. These include: 7.9.1 The Military Museum: The Chester Beatty collection of the Military Museum is precisely catalogued with each artifact clearly displaying a tag with the catalogue number attached by fibre thread. Comprehensive handwritten catalogues reference all the tagged artifacts. 7.9.2 The National Science Museum: Both aspects of the museum, the scientific apparatus collection of Nicholas Callan and the ecclesiastical collection are catalogued in handwritten catalogues. These catalogues have been revised, updated and published. Breen, P. J., Ed., St. Patrick’s College Maynooth Museum of Ecclesiology, a catalogue of ecclesiastical Items Spanning two centuries of the College history, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, 1995 Mollan, Charles, Upton, John, The Scientific Apparatus of Nicholas Callan, and other Historic Instruments, Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, 1994. 7.10 Day-to-Day Management of the Museum 7.10.1 Opening Hours Opening hours vary greatly and often depend on the nature of the organization. For instance greater opening hours are provided by those who operate profit making companies such as Lullymore Heritage and Discovery Park, which rely on access charges to run the organization. Six museums are open Monday-to-Friday and also at weekends. Six museums are open Monday-to-Friday only. Eight museums are open during normal business hours, i.e. from 9-10am and 4-5.30pm. One museum is open only during the morning only and one museum is open in the afternoon only. Eight museums are open all year though some have more limited opening hours during the offpeak season. Five museums are closed during the off-season period. 7.10.2 Staffing and Volunteers The single greatest challenge of most museums surveyed is the provision of adequate numbers of staff. Most museums, which do not form part of a much larger organization, are generally serviced by one permanent or part-time staff member. CHARLES DUGGAN ARHITECTURAL HERITAGE ADVISOR 36
AUDIT OF MUSEUMS AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS IN COUNTY KILDARE 2006 Seven museum organizations have only one full-time staff member. Six museum organizations have more than two full-time staff members. Larger organizations where the museum forms only part of a much larger organization, such as the Horse Museum at the Irish National Stud, or the Bog of Allen Nature Centre, at the Irish Peatlands Conservation Council Headquarters in Lullymore, have greater numbers of full-time staffing. Six organizations do not operate a volunteer staffing support structure. Three organizations engage only one volunteer. Other organizations have engaged between five and eight volunteers each. One museum operates with only two volunteers and no full-time staff members. The roles and duties of staff members in the museums organizations participating in this survey are rarely exclusive to one professional role. In most cases, where there is only one full-time staff member the duties generally span day-to-day management, marketing and development. In total only four full-time staff members engaged in curatorial work within the museums, and none are engaged exclusively as professional curators. There are no conservators engaged as full-time staff members. However, it should be noted, that two organizations retain the services of a conservator on a consultancy basis. Three full-time staff members are involved in the educational services of the museum or organization. 7.11 Visitor Facilities Offered by Museums and Public Collections The visitor facilities offered by museums and public collections range from basic services to professional museum services. 7.11.1 Services The most prevalent services offered by museums and organizations range from basic public services such as toilets and disabled access to more educational services such as leaflets on collections and guided tours. Three organizations have responded yes to the provision of Audiovisual guides. This appears to be a misunderstanding of the term as in reality these organizations include a static audio-visual presentation as part of self-guided exhibitions. Courses, lectures and family events are poorly served by museums and organizations. SERVICE No. Toilets 11 Café 5 Shop 8 Guided tours 12 Courses 1 Lectures 5 Family events 4 Leaflets on collection 10 Reproductions 5 Published catalogues 5 Audio-visual guides 3 Disabled access 9 CHARLES DUGGAN ARHITECTURAL HERITAGE ADVISOR 37
Page 1 and 2: AUDIT OF MUSEUMS AND PUBLIC COLLECT
Page 35: AUDIT OF MUSEUMS AND PUBLIC COLLECT
Page 43: AUDIT OF MUSEUMS AND PUBLIC COLLECT

1.0 INTRODUCTION Kildare County Council in association - Kildare.ie

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?