Museum Insurance Policy Report

Insurance Insurance is the museum’s way of compensating for damage to its collections. Insurance provides funds to restore or replace lost or damaged items in the collections. The museum takes full responsibility of insuring its collection. The insurance policy provided will be based on the fair market value of the items contained in the permanent, archives, and research collections. They are also insured while in transit and in the custody of a borrower unless other arrangements have been made and a contract agreement signed. Outgoing and incoming loans will always be insured while off museum or lenders property. The insurance policy procedures will be followed unless otherwise stated by the director’s approval. Reviews of all collections
will be conducted periodically to analyze for hazards and items should also be handled in a professional matter.
If an object is lost or damaged, it must be reported to the collections manager and museum director. If the item lost or damaged is out on loan, the lender must be notified as well. Every incident will be documented by the registrar. The registrar is also responsible for contacting the insurance company if the director or lender deems a claim should be made for the item. The registrar documents and files the claim and in charge of keeping those records on file at all times. A Disaster/Emergency Preparedness plan is developed by the director and put into effect to ensure the protection of the collections in storage and exhibits. The standards and procedures will be developed with the director and curator and updated when needed. The curator will keep all records of objects in collections, noting their locations at all times. A list of all price values of accessions, loans, purchases, gifts, donations, will be documented by the curator for the use of an insurance claim.

Access
The collections at the museum are meant for the benefit of the public.
The public shall have supervised access, by appointment, to stored or exhibited collections for research or educational purposes. Any digital or physical paper records are the responsibility of the collections, curatorial, and archiving staff and is available to the public by request. Archaeological data may be confined or protected and will not be of access to the public. Registrar is responsible for security overall collections. The Collections Manger is responsible for maintaining and enforcing access procedures. The Collections storage areas will be accessed by curatorial, collections, and archiving staff. Volunteers and staff member must be accompanied and supervised by an approved staff member to access the collections storage area. It is noted that storing or handling artifacts that are sensitive to certain cultural groups, especially human remains, shall need special consideration. Curation manager and staff will work with cultural groups to develop specific storage and handling procedures for these types of
artifacts.

Code of Ethics This policy describes the particulars in the way the museum adapts general ethics to its museum and collections.
This policy is followed by all staff, governing body, and volunteers of the museum. The staff at the museum meets ethical, legal, professional obligations and maintains honesty, integrity, and loyalty to the museum and in dealing with its collection. They must represent professional conduct at all times. The museum follows the American Association of Museums Code of Ethics. The museum is ethically responsible for the protection, security, care, and preservation of the collection in custody. The collections are held and maintained for the public. The collections will always serve the purpose of education, exhibition, and research for the public’s benefit and will not be used for financial of overall gains of the staff or museum as a whole. The staff and other members of the museum should use nothing other than the steps and rules set out by this policy for acquisition, deaccession, care, and storage in dealing with the
collections.

Appraisals
When a member of the public contacts a museum to seek staff expertise on an object or if the museum staff seeks expertise in regards to selling an item, this will take the form of an appraisal. This policy is for the protection of the museum from potential conflicts of interest, accusations or ethical misconduct. This policy also protects the potential donors and lenders from legal or financial misconduct. The museum has the right to turn down any appraisal presented. The museum staff, board, or volunteers are prohibited from providing appraisals of tax-deductible donations. The museum will not make, arrange, or pay for appraisal donations and internal appraisals will not be shared with donors. Appraisers will be provided without preference and staff can recommend and assist with locating outside appraisers to donors. The staff may not promote or endorse a specific appraiser. Donors must have a legal qualifying independent appraisal made for income tax deductions. Contributions to the collections may be tax deductible under specific regulations. A form for every appraisal will be developed and completed to note the date of receipt and state the museum does not endorse valuation of items donated. The form will be signed by the Director of Collections. The museum will not pay for appraisals donated property on behalf of the donor.

Intellectual property/Copyright The Caribbean and U.S. East Coast Pirate History Museum reserves the right to copyright or trademark materials produced by staff while carrying out employment-related duties. The museum abides by the University of East Carolina patent regulations. The museum staff will protect the rights of the copyright holders. The intellectual property of the museum includes images, educational material, multimedia works, museum website, publications, maps, drawings, and manuscripts, and all objects in the collection. The museum has the right to copyright materials produced by staff are entitled to receive fees with the items produced while on the job at the museum. Scholarly writings of research including books, journals, articles are produced during museum worktime will address the museum in the affiliation. Museum ownership and rights to intellectual property created by employees will continue after the employee leaves. The museum will educate staff of the Fair-Use. The museum protects its own intellectual property but will balance between freedom of access and usage corresponding in regards to its mission. Appropriate credit and citations will be provided for all intellectual property.
Copyright protects the original literary, artistic, and architectural works that exist within the museum collections. It gives the museum the rights to copy, distribute, and exhibit protected work. The creator of a piece of intellectual property owns the copyright. The museum will determine copyrights for all objects entering the collections through gift, transfer, field collecting, donation, or purchase. The collections manager will evaluate every request for access or information of copyrighted material in the collections.