如何制訂蒐藏政策

Developing a Collection Policy for the Museum

鄭惠英

《科技博物》 1卷2期 (1997/03) Pp. 55-65

摘要

對今日的博物館而言，為蒐藏而收藏的年代已遠去，有限的空間、經費，乃至於有限的資源（指蒐藏的對象而言），皆促始館方必須慎重思量與規劃其蒐藏方向，加上當今博物館強調教育的功能，博物館的蒐藏絕對不是關起門來，滿足少數幾個人的求知慾或好奇心，而是充份研究、記錄與管理蒐藏品，提供廣大民眾合理地使用，透過蒐藏品將人類的智識累積作更好的發揮。這一切理念的推動與落實，端賴館方能制訂一個周全且富彈性的蒐藏政策，將蒐藏品的內容、使用與保管等項目，就其範疇、作業流程及責任歸屬等一一載明，一切有依據，就不會因人廢事或誤事，博物館事業才得以傳之久遠。

並列摘要

The twentieth century has seen the establishment of museums in tremendous numbers. A conservative estimate by Professor Chen Kuo-ning in 1991 put the number of museums in Taiwan at 98 public and private institutions. The number of museums world-wide would be virtually impossible to determine. Through the development and accumulation of theory and experience, museums have come to recognize ”collection, research, display and education” as their four main functions. Museums have been working to establish a broader range of contact with the general public so that they are no longer viewed as the exclusive province of a handful of privileged elites.
At the same time, the types and volumes of items being preserved by museums are starting to suffer some restrictions. Museums can no longer take for granted that they can preserve a large share of their holdings as in the past. Many feel less obligated and do less work in preservation and their ability to take care of collected items is being seriously taxed. This often results in a confusing pile-up of collected articles and has caused growing public criticism.
The efforts of a museum at preservation can no longer be the responsibility of a limited group of people in the museum. Rather, this work must be subject to greater public approval. Developing a reasonable and complete policy toward collection calls for support from everyone involved in collection work in any way. This is something that every contemporary museum must hold to. At the same time the museum should play a wider role (for example in contesting patent right), in order to put a stop to declining competitiveness.
Marie C. Malavo (1985) in her A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections has a complete description which neatly outlines this process.
Museums established earlier may have a preservation capacity of several hundreds of thousands or several millions of objects. At more recently opened museums, it may be hard to achieve such astronomical numbers. From another angle, however, museums which were established at an early date are often bogged down in the management of their huge collections while newly-opened museums can look at their capabilities and think clearly about how they want to store things and how to manage them. They can do everything step by step, thus avoiding the tendency of earlier museums to simply ”store what you've got”. This will also make it easier to establish a special flavor to the collections. In short, it is best to settle upon a collection policy as early as possible.
A rational, comprehensive collection policy should take into account the distinctive character of the museum as well as its functions and the directives outlined in its establishment. It must not be counter to the spirit in which the museum was first created. It should include at least an outline of the scope of collectibles as well as the approach and methods to be used in collecting, what is involved in adding works to the collection, how the collected pieces are to be stored, safeguarding and maintaining the integrity of the pieces, deaccession of collected pieces and the ethical code of the collection.
These should be classified according to 'what' will be in the collection and ”how” and by ”who” it will be handled. Every museum will take different approaches depending on how it was created, its objectives, the organization of its staff, its integral resources, the amount of space available, and costs involved. Conversely, each museum will need its own individually tailored collection policy (Lee Li-fang 1993, Wang Chia-hsing et al, 1994). In fact every unit can set up a collection policy proper to each academic area of collection. Each study area can then make further collections based on actual conditions. (Yeh Keng-yu, 1993; Tseng Wei-ying, 1993).
The basic collection policy for a museum should include:
1. Definition of the scope for collecting
* Confirming the nature of the collection
* Deciding on the geographical area of the collection
* Determining the time period to be considered for the collection
* Deciding what types of articles will be in the collection
2. Strategy and methods for collection
* Major collecting considerations for different phases
* Explanation of various collection methods
3. All actions related to adding to the collection
* Approval of collected items
* Registration
* Catalogue
4. Use of collections
* Loan
* Borrowing
* Research and exhibition of collections
5. Protection and care of collection
* Management of the storage area
(including traffic in and out)
* Conservation of collection
6. Deaccession
* Reasons for deaccession
* Approval of deaccession
* Enforcement of deaccssjon
7. Ethical considerations in collecting
* The ethics of collecting activities
* Restrictions on use of collections
* Accession and deaccession
The collecting criteria listed above emphasize the basic structure and considerations for a collection policy, and these need to be classified according to the actual conditions in individual museums. The basic structure and spirit outlined above must be developed solely from appropriate collection policies before they can actually be adapted and used. In addition, the determination of the contents of the policy must incorporate considerable flexibility to avoid becoming entangled and ineffective when interacting with the outside. At the same time there must not be too much flexibility, to avoid a lack of direction. Control of specifications should be considered with regard to conditions at each museum.
Finally, it must be kept in mind that collection policies are not set in concrete, and should be reviewed and revised according to proper methods by relevant authorities. At the same time there should be full evaluations of collection policies at fixed intervals (every five to ten years, for example), with changes as needed. This will ensure that the policy is a ”living” thing for museum authorities which will continue to maintain a feeling of modernity and relevance.