Closer monitoring of museum artefacts called for (From York Press)

Closer monitoring of museum artefacts called for

8:36am Wednesday 21st November 2012 in News

MUSEUM bosses in York are being urged to carry out an urgent review of whether their priceless collections are properly archived over concerns artefacts could be lost or stolen.

A City of York Council task group which was set up to analyse the work of York Museums’ Trust has said audits of its items were “insufficiently rigorous” and there should be closer monitoring of anything which is earmarked for disposal.

The group’s draft report was today being discussed by the authority’s learning and culture overview and scrutiny committee.

The report said the trust’s acquisition and disposal policy was supposed to be rewritten six years ago must now be updated “as a matter of urgency” and approved by the council. It also said the trust should provide a list of all items it wants to get rid of twice a year.

The report said not disposing of unwanted, duplicate or damaged items had had a “knock-on effect” in that it had played a part in delaying work on the collections and the trust’s future plans for developing its venues.