Museum Governance. Mission, Ethics, Policy

Price: $23.35
ISBN 13: 1560983639

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Product Description

In Museum Governance, Marie Malaro addresses a range of issues facing museum administrators and trustees, arguing they can handle their duties intelligently only if they understand two points—why our country sustains a nonprofit sector and what constitutes trusteeship. Armed with this knowledge, trustees can sort out knotty problems relating to corporate sponsorship, entrepreneurial activities, and fundraising in ways that preserve the integrity of the nonprofit.

Malaro first explores the principles of nonprofit governance. She explains the purpose and use of professional codes of ethics and offers practical advice about board education and its role in fostering the long-term health of an organization. She then applies these principles to situations frequently confronting trustees, discussing how to set collection strategies, balance mission and entreprenurial ventures, handle deaccessioning, maintain effective board oversight, approach automation, and deal with repatriation requests.

Author Information

Marie C. Malaro
Marie C. Malaro is an attorney, former legal advisor to the Smithsonian Institution, and the former director of the graduate program in museum studies at George Washington University. She is also the author of A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections, Second Edition (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998).

Review Quotes

Museum Governance is an important . . . discussion of the major issues facing America’s museums . . . . Malaro’s points and recommendations provide a sound foundation on which to advance the discussion and debate about the mission, ethics, and policies of the country’s museums, their governing authorities, and the professionals who manage them.
—Curator
A very pure distillation of critical ideas concerning museum missions, the obligations of trustees (prudence, loyalty, and obedience to the law), and the need to provide a firm foundation of policy under a diverse range of museum activities.
—Stephen E. Weil
Malaro raises important issues that face museums today. She consistently reminds trustees and other museum professionals to consider museums' educational missions and to remember that public faith is crucial to the sector. . . . Her book should be required reading for everyone involved with museums.
—Southern Historian

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