Search

Copyright law does not currently align with the legitimate activities of galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs). The GLAM sector plays a central role in collecting and promoting access to cultural works. Increasingly, GLAM institutions are employing innovative digital technologies to expand access to culture and foster greater levels of cultural participation. Despite the utility underlying digitisation, copyright limits the use of digital technologies within the GLAM sphere. This article examines current copyright limitations and demonstrates copyright's significant limiting effect. It argues that reform is necessary to strengthen the right to participate in cultural life and to remedy harms inflicted by the current copyright regime. Creating a fit-for-purpose safe harbour would empower institutions to employ digitisation within a framework of reasonable copyright constraints. Accordingly, this article constructs a potential safe harbor that permits non-commercial GLAM digitisation, while also protecting copyright holders and tikanga Māori. The Copyright Act 1994 is currently under review. New Zealand ought to seize the present reform opportunity to invigorate participation in cultural life and enrich the cultural fabric of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exhibitions of protest art have a unique ability to attract constituents and tourists who might not normally visit a museum. In the age of dwindling budgets and in an attempt to remain relevant, the advantages of collecting and exhibiting protest art are numerous. Do museums benefit from such activities? In the present article, the current environment of museums will first be described, and the moral, ethical and legal obligations of museums to collect protest art will be evaluated. The legal tools, including cultural heritage laws already in place that would encourage museums to preserve protest art are analysed; together with the restrictions of government funding and how curatorial decisions can risk the loss of such funding. Lastly, a series of case studies that demonstrate the challenges and complexities museums face in collecting and displaying protest art is presented. These case studies include: (1) the Victoria and Albert Museum's Disobedient Objects exhibition; (2) the work of preservation groups during Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement; (3) the collecting of protest art by the Missouri History Museum following protests in Ferguson, Missouri; and finally, (4) the Museum of the Moving Image's display of HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the community of practice framework conceived by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger to demonstrate how museums form communities to support practices that aim to improve the human rights experiences of marginalized groups. The recent rise of a human rights museum practice provides rich examples of how communities of practice are formed around human rights. Museums are involved in legal practices at all moments in law's narrative arc, from the initiation of claims to ordering remedies. The framework describes how communities support learning difficult knowledge, and how new norms are established, strengthened and shared amongst particular groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the laws in the U.S. under which the government subsidizes art collections. Topics discussed include proliferation of the private museums; requirements for private museum must meet in order to be considered tax-exempt; and ways that align the costs and benefits of the preferred donation techniques.

This article analyzes the results of public management reform in Italy, focusing on its managerial significance in the field of cultural heritage. The primary aim is to overcome the general lack of studies analyzing the impact of managerial reforms in governments with aRechtsstaattradition and to understand if, besides the political and institutional context characterized by a highly legalistic system, there are other important factors that might affect results of reforms. Through an in-depth analysis of the reform of the Italian ministry and a comparison with the French museum sector, the paper demonstrates that the way in which the process of change is managed significantly affects the results of reform. Specifically, the author affirms that, in order to obtain good reform results, a greater active involvement of senior bureaucrats in the process of designing reforms is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many New Zealand museums seek to digitise their collections as a way of achieving their objectives. Museums' digitisation projects have, however, exposed certain gaps and flaws in the Copyright Act 1994. In particular, the 'archiving exceptions' are inadequate and do not reflect the practicalities of the digitisation process; there is no legislative provision requiring that museums take a balanced approach which reflects established cultural property theory when seeking to digitise cultural works originating from Māori; and there is no legislative protection for items in the public domain. Currently, therefore, in making use of digital technology many museums appear to take a flexible approach to the law. This article examines each of the three areas described above in more detail and concludes that in some instances the flexible approach to the law adopted by museums may provide useful guidance to the legislature when it seeks to amend the Copyright Act 1994. In other instances, however, the practices of museums ignore well-founded principles which underpin the law. It is inappropriate for State-funded institutions to develop 'flexibilities' which are contrary to the public interest in culture and the public domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on cultural justice and the efforts of the Greek government to acquire the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon that are in the possession of the British Museum in London, England. Topics include the reunification of the Greek antiquities at the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, and the failure of the governments to agree on the repatriation of the sculptures.

In this article, the author explores the concept of due diligence. Particular focus is given to how this term relates to the language and literature of the art and museum sectors. Additional topics discussed include due diligence in statute and treaty, Section 4 of the Limitation Act 1980 (England and Wales) and the Unidroit Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.

The article focuses on the role of the international human rights in regulating the laws related to repatriation. Topics discussed include various laws related to museum and other indigenous communities, laws related to the repatriation of ceremonial objects as well as human remains and laws made for the regulation of cultural property.

In this article, the author presents her views on impact of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) on the repatriation. Topics discussed include role of the NAGPRA on the dispute resolution for various claims related to the protection of cultural property, laws enforcement for the regulation of burial and its associated goods and laws made for the regulation of the museums.

The article focuses on the aspects related to cultural redemption and laws made for the regulation of repatriation and the national museum of the Native Americans. Topics discussed include the role of Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) in the protection of graves and its associated goods, laws related to the museums and the laws for regulating the collections of museum.

The article focuses on the role of Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA) in defining the cultural patrimony. It discusses the role of laws in resolving the disputes between the Apache tribes and museums in the U.S., laws and legislations related to repatriation. It further discusses the laws made for the tribes and their associated cultural rites.

The article discusses the 1871 appointment of German emperor Frederick III to the head of the royal museums of Germany. The legal history of the royal museums after 1830 are examined along with the history of German cultural policy, the 1872 appointment of Guido von Usedom to the position of director of the museums is discussed, and the history of the museums' finance is presented. Legislation pertaining to the museums is described, the 1878 appointment of Richard Schöne to position of museum director is examined, and the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the museum in 1880 is discussed.

A crisis confronts the American Museum community. Large American cities are losing their art collections because an imperfect body of law and overbroad ethical norms govern the process of deaccession. Deaccession of art occurs when a museum decides to dispose of a work of art. The crisis stems not just from the practice itself - though there are indications deaccession will occur with increasing regularity. Rather, the curious mixture of trust and estates law, state law, tax policy, nonprofit governance and professional guidelines governing deaccession all combine to form a set of binding norms and laws which lack clarity, and often conflict with each other. This precludes a reasoned appraisal of whether any given deaccession may benefit the public. More care should be taken when crafting the rules governing our collective cultural heritage. Regrettably the current rules lead to a number of pernicious consequences: the loss of works from the public trust, the closure of museums and unnecessary legal disputes. These rules assume that museums must acquire works in exchange for deaccession funds. This seems to suggest museums are repositories of art irrespective of whether anyone actually sees or studies the works - or whether a sale may in some cases actually help a museum better accomplish its mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines museum law related to seizure of cultural property on loan from another country. Legislation which would afford museums immunity from seizure of exhibits which are part of international exhibitions by police or customs officials is considered. Immunity from seizure laws and practices of European Union countries are discussed.

The article discusses museum policies related to the restitution of cultural heritage and artifacts to Native Americans and Aboriginal peoples by Canadian, U.S., and European museums. The author describes the role of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in protecting such cultural property. Emphasis is given to Canadian government policy and legislation concerning the returning of artifacts to First Nations groups. Repatriation policies concerning human remains and artifacts are analyzed.

The article examines how the United States' Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act has altered the relationship between museums and Native Americans. The author discusses how many tribal artifacts have been returned to their rightful owners and how museums now work more comprehensively with tribes when producing exhibits. The author also discusses obstacles and ambiguities that have arisen as a result of the act and examines how it can be improved.

The article provides a brief analysis of the town museums, their status and their possible transformation into present-day instruments for a renewed kind of museology, from a historical perspective and connected to legislative and administrative reforms in the sector. The author offers a critical perspective in order to contribute do generating a new vision towards the future.

The Austrian National Library, as heir to the Hapsburg Imperial Court Library, has a history rich in tradition dating to the fourteenth century. Its collections, including those of manuscripts, incunabula, maps and early printed books, are of international significance. A historical outline of the Library describes the growth of the collections under the Habsburg emperors and its emergence as the Austrian National Library in 1920. The Federal Museums Law of 2002 established the Library as an autonomous body, leading to major organizational reform and greater control over budgetary policy. The Library's strategic goals 2002-2006 were: the gradual expansion of the digital library with a corresponding improvement of service to clients; building and repair projects; scientific research and the modernization of the training of librarians; and coming to terms with the period of National Socialism. The new strategic plan covering the five years from 2006 will emphasize further improvements in catalogues, digitizing holdings, and long-term archiving of digital information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the due diligence guidelines issued by Great Britain's Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which was drafted by a subgroup of the Illicit Trade Advisory Panel. The guidelines were made for museums and other public institutions for collecting and borrowing cultural materials. It will also cover loans and acquisitions and will affect museums in the region and international institutions who lend to British institutions.

Presents a timeline of Saskatchewan from 1905 to 2005. Establishment of the University of Saskatchewan; Number of men and women from the province who serve in the armed forces during the First World War; Passage of the Western Development Museum Act.

The article discusses issues regarding museum policy and holocaust cultural assets in Australia. It cites that there may not be much looted in art and blame on those who failed to identify it ahead of time. Moreover, the world can afford a wealth of options from which the country can model and manifest its own refusal to profit from the events of 1933 to 1945. Based on the experience of other nations, it suggests a need to ask crucial questions about the response to Holocaust claims.

The article discusses the presidential address of Ian G. Robertson to professional bodies, delivered July 24, 1987. The address of Robertson, President of the Museums Association, drew attention to several major problems facing the United Kingdom museum profession. He was worry about the implications of the Government's demand for the valuation of local authority assets and the controversy if museum collections were to be included in the exercise. Robertson reminded the Meeting that there would be enormous problems for the museums and galleries if the Government policy is applied to them.

The article discusses the laws of liability for injury on the premises of museums, and demonstrates why a hazard survey is the most important safeguard against liability for museums. It is said that common law and civil law jurisdictions have established same rules that govern the status of persons entering places of entertainment or education, and the resulting liability of the owners. It is cited that there must be safety inspection of museum premises and exhibits to protect against money loss, and to have some corrective actions.

The article offers information regarding the legal and ethical problems being faced by the modern museums in Poland. It is stated that the constant change on legal, financial, administrative, and labor laws which have control over the country's museums have influenced various provisions. It is implied that in Poland, the museum's stability is being provided by the Museums and Protection of Cultural Values Act of February 15, 1962. The article explores more of the ethics and laws of Polish museums and the complications that arose.

The article highlights the National Museums Task Force and their task to assess the effectiveness of the National Museums Act of 1968 and the National Museums Policy of 1972. National Museums Task Force was also instructed to report its assessment to the Minister of Communications. It mentions that the obligation of the National Museums Task Force was established in January 1986 under Clement Richard and William Withrow. The article also includes other responsibilities of the Task Force such as reviewing the roles of small museums of Government of Canada and studying the operations of National Museums of Canada.

This work aims to study the proposals of the Portuguese 1st Republic (started in October 5th of 1910) in what concerns museums, comparing them with those of the Monarchy. The 1st Republic Governments were highly prolific regarding museum legislation, in several domains, such as: anticlericalism and laicism; nationalization of the Royal House property; heritage defense; museum regulations; creation of new museums; cultural services; education policies; economic development. This system generated the first museum network constituted by national and regional museums, ruled by tutelary institutions. In this context, important figures of the Portuguese cultural panorama such as José de Figueiredo and António Augusto Gonçalves had a relevant role. The massive exhibition of items, especially of Arts and Archaeology, was prominent, but an increase of conservation and divulgation can also be testified. The National Museum of Ancient Art has taken a lead in Museography. The Republic intensified the debate about the social, cultural, educational and economic roles of the museums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]