SMC e-bulletin

SMC Monthly e-bulletin June 2006

We have moved office and we are now settling in at our new address:
The Stack
Papermill Wynd
McDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4QL

T: (main switchboard) 0131 550 4100
F: 0131 550 4139
E: [email protected]

Individual staff direct telephone numbers and e-mail addresses will be posted on our website at http://www.scottishmuseums.org.uk/about/staff_intro.asp

On 19 June in Inverness and 22 June in Glasgow, SMC is inviting museum staff / volunteers to find out more about the Cultural Coordinators scheme and meet Cultural Coordinators from their area. The events will include an opportunity to hear case studies of projects that Cultural Coordinators have done with museums in the past and to talk about possible future projects. These events coincide with the SMC Small Grants Programme opening up to applications from Cultural Coordinators working with museums with full membership of SMC. It is an opportunity to get together and come up with inspiring and creative ways to make your collections accessible to new audiences.
For details, contact SMC Learning and Access Manager Rhona Hamilton.
T: 0131 550 4132.  E: [email protected]
Booking is essential: contact Sue Wheeler at SMC. 
T: 0131 550 4113.  E: [email protected]

Accreditation panel
At the meeting on 18 May, the following decisions were made:
Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Full Accreditation
Aberdeen Maritime Museum, Aberdeen, Full Accreditation
Provost Skene's House, Aberdeen, Full Accreditation.
Registration Phase II Returns
MLA will shortly be sending out information returns forms to all Registered museums not being invited to apply for Accreditation until 2007 - 2009.
Queries
If you have any queries about Accreditation, please contact SMC Accreditation Managers Susie Hillhouse or Fiona McDougall. 
T: 0131 550 4124. E: [email protected] or [email protected]

A full evaluation of Show Scotland 06 is well underway. Details of this and plans for Show Scotland 07 will be announced by mid-July.
If you have any queries about Show Scotland, contact Clare Dickinson at SMC.
T: 0131 550 4118.  E: [email protected]

A warm welcome to Andrea Hallam (Learning and Access Co-ordinator - Collections) and Emma Halford-Macleod (Learning and Access Co-ordinator) who have started work on the project, working with Samantha Groves.
The project is a partnership between Angus, Dundee City and Perth & Kinross Councils.
For information about the project, contact Sam Groves. E: [email protected]

Museums have been recognised as an important part of the ancestral tourism product in Scotland and SMC recently worked with the Ancestral Tourism Initiative (a combined VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise initiative) and a group of Scottish industrial museums (including a representative from the National Archives of Scotland) on a project addressing the increasing amounts of genealogy enquiries received by these sites. The project, funded by the ATI was undertaken by Tony Reid of SR Consultancy and consisted of a mapping exercise examining the industrial archives held and suggesting a series of recommendations for the future. A further outcome was the production of a series of factsheets, prepared for the participating museums, allowing signposting to relevant archive resources. These factsheets are now available through our website for other interested museums � see
www.scottishmuseums.org.uk/news/2006/ati_mapping.asp
For further details, contact SMC External Programmes Development Manager
Emma Jane McAdam.  T: 0131 550 4123.  E: [email protected]

The Association of Independent Museums held the Scottish workshop for the Sustainability Scheme in Edinburgh on 30 March. Adrian Babbidge of Egeria heritage consultancy led the workshop which aimed to help members highlight where their problems lie with regard to sustainability and to suggest solutions, prior to the submission of a grant application to the Scheme. Adrian�s presentation notes from the workshop have been posted on the SMC website along with some further information on the Scheme and the benefits of AIM membership.
www.scottishmuseums.org.uk/news/2006/AIM_sustainability.asp

Collections Link is a collaboration of more than 20 national professional groups, bodies and associations responsible for providing advice and support to museums, archives, libraries and other collections-holding organisations. The aim of the service is to provide a single point of access to best practice in the care and management of collections. There are four main elements to Collections Link:

• an online library of best practice guides and factsheets
• a telephone and e-mail advisory service
• a national database of training and skills development opportunities
• a commissioning fund to support the development of new resources.

Collections Link is managed by MDA, in partnership with the Institute of Conservation and the National Preservation Office. The service is funded by MLA through the Renaissance in the Regions programme. See http://www.collectionslink.org.uk

MDA has announced the publication of a factsheet giving guidance on planning projects for clearing documentation backlogs. The factsheet directly addresses the requirement in the Museum Accreditation Scheme for 'a written Documentation Plan, setting out actions, including the timescale, for dealing with any backlog�. It particularly looks at how to estimate timescales in such a plan, considering the range of factors that need to be taken into account such as staff time and the type of collection. The factsheet is available to download free from the MDA website at www.mda.org.uk/times.htm

The aim of the MEG Subject Specialist Network project was to gather and disseminate information about the ethnographic collections of a range of museums within the UK. This has been achieved for 16 museums, using a redesigned MEG website - see http://www.museumethnographersgroup.org.uk/

EUCLID (EU information for the cultural sector in UK) has unveiled its new culture portal which lists key cultural information and resource websites such as

• associations and networks
• funding and development bodies
• support and resource agencies
• portals and information sources.

See www.culture.info

The MA has published the final draft of its salary guidelines for museums, the result of its 2004 report Pay in Museums, which found that pay in the museum sector was falling behind other comparable sectors. The guidelines are designed to help museums determine salaries appropriate for the amount of experience, knowledge and responsibility that is demanded of a post.
See http://www.museumsassociation.org/12501&_IXPOS_=manews1.3

Recent Heritage Lottery Fund awards include:

• The National Museums of Scotland have been awarded �35,600 (25%) towards the purchase of a pair of silver wall sconces made c.1699 by James Penman, an Edinburgh goldsmith, to complement the original decorative scheme of the first Hopetoun House.
• Helmsdale Heritage Society has been awarded �50,000 (37%) towards the refurbishment of the museum displays and the archive space at Timespan heritage centre in Helmsdale, as well as the creation of a dedicated community exhibition space.
• The Dunbeath Preservation Trust has been awarded a grant of �50,000 (44%) towards a project to extend their museum to provide new display space, a new museum store and a research education room. The project will also involve the conservation and display of the Portormin Rune stone, a carved stone from the 8th century which has not been displayed because the appropriate facilities were not available.

Congratulations to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Glasgow City Council�s Transport Museum and Kelvingrove for each having an item from their collections among the top twenty items voted for by the public for the BBC TV virtual People's Museum.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/peoplesmuseum/

Heritage Impact 2006. The Socio-economic Impact of Cultural Heritage
29-30 June, Brighton
�170
An opportunity to share thinking on the direction of research, on strategies for improving and evaluating impact in the cultural heritage sector, and how heritage sites can drive change for the future.
www.heritageimpact.org

A Cultural Manifesto for the UK Structural Funds 2007-2013
5 July, London
�120
This EUCLID conference will provide an update on the new Structural Funds 2007-2013. The event also aims to draft a "Cultural Manifesto for the Structural Funds" to help the cultural sector argue the case for including support for cultural projects within the new Single Programming Documents priorities, measures and criteria.
www.euclid.info

Choose It, Use It or Lose It? Social History Curators Group Conference
6-8 Jul, Edinburgh and Glasgow
�230 for SHCG members, �250 for non-members (includes accommodation)
The conference will focus on current theory and practice surrounding collections and collecting.
Zelda Baveystock. T: 0191 222 3858.  E: [email protected]

Out of the Box: Rethinking Museum Loans
14 July, London
�100 for MA members, �175 for non-members
This conference will examine policy initiatives in the UK and Europe and will assess the current nature and extent of loans between UK museums and improvements that could be made. It will also include practical advice on making loans less labour intensive and more cost-effective and inclusive.
Museums Association.  T: 020 7426 6940.  E: [email protected]
W: http://www.museumsassociation.org/12344&_IXFPFX_=full/mpf

Period Detail: Interpreting Historic Locations and Their Collections
17 July, London
�100 for MA members, �175 for non-members
Advice on effective interpretive planning; balancing conservation and access; preserving and communicating layers of change in the life story of a building; and the government�s approach to listing historic buildings and planning procedures.
Museums Association.  T: 020 7426 6940.  E: [email protected]
W: http://www.museumsassociation.org/12345&_IXFPFX_=full/mpf

British Association of Friends of Museums. Scottish Regional Meeting
9 September, Edinburgh
�8
Talks on Leith Races, Burntisland Heritage, and the collections of the City Art Centre as well as discussion of the work and operation of a range of Friends groups.
Anne Davidson, BAfM Scottish Regional Coordinator, 12 Balwearie Gardens, Kirkcaldy KY2 5LU.  T: 01592 260771.  E: [email protected]

Conservation and Preservation of Photographs
2 - 4 October, Edinburgh
�150
Suitable for conservators and curators, the course will cover identification and conservation of different types of historic and modern photos.
Helen Creasy, Scottish Conservation Studio.  T: 0131 331 5875. 
E: [email protected]

Museums Association Conference and Exhibition
23-25 October, Bournemouth
Discuss key issues affecting the sector and review the range of products and services from suppliers.
http://www.museumsassociation.org/conference&_IXMENU_=conference_and_exhibition