National Standards & best practices for U.S. museums

Preface / Ford W. Bell -- Section 1: Introduction. Who should use this book and how ; What is a museum? ; Why Standards? ; What are "Standards and best practices"? ; Where do Standards come from? ; How can museums use the Standards? ; Who else uses the Standards, and how? -- Section 2: Standards and best practices. Core questions ; Commentary ; Characteristics of excellence for U.S. museums ; Characteristics of excellence for U.S. museums "in translation" -- I. Public trust and accountability. Standards regarding public trust and accountability ; Commentary ; Standards regarding ethics ; Commentary ; The AAM code of ethics for museums ; Standards regarding an institutional code of ethics ; Commentary -- II. Mission and planning. Standards regarding institutional mission statements ; Commentary ; Standards regarding institutional planning ; Commentary -- III. Leadership and organizational structure. Standards regarding governance ; Commentary ; Standards regarding delegation of authority ; Commentary -- IV. Collections stewardship. Standards regarding collections stewardship ; Commentary ; Best practices regarding loaning collections to non-museum entities ; Commentary ; Standards regarding the unlawful appropriation of objects during the Nazi era ; Best practices regarding the unlawful appropriation of objects during the Nazi era ; Commentary -- V. Education and interpretation. Standards regarding education and interpretation ; Commentary ; Standards regarding exhibiting borrowed objects ; Commentary -- VI. Financial stability. Standards regarding financial stability ; Commentary ; Standards regarding developing and managing business and individual donor support ; Commentary ; Standards regarding retrenchment or downsizing -- VII. Facilities and risk management. Standards regarding facilities and risk management ; Commentary -- Section 3: Completing the picture. The universe of museum standards and best practices ; Other major sources of standards relevant to museums ; AAM standing professional committees and standards ; Trends and potential future standards ; Troubleshooting -- Appendix: Dates of approval of standards and best practices.