Minutes of the 102nd meeting of the Museum Council –
March 31, 2011, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM, National Museum of Iceland
Present: Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, chairman, Halldór B. Runólfsson, Helgi Torfason, Guðný Dóra Gestsdóttir, Rakel Halldórsdóttir and Ágústa Kristófersdóttir (executive directors of the museum council).
1. Issues for discussion and decision:
1.0. Minutes of the 100th meeting approved and signed.
1.1. Director's report: RSS feed on the museum board's website. It is now possible to subscribe to updates on the museum board's website. Architectural Department of the Reykjavík Art Museum – information on the future of the museum's collection: It was agreed to send the Reykjavík Art Museum an inquiry about the future of the museum's Architectural Department's collection in light of the fact that an employee of the department has been laid off. Spring meetings of the main museums – museum board's agenda: The agenda was reviewed. Office arrangements for the coming months: Rakel will be on a part-time basis until the fall and Ágústa will replace her until August 30. Coordinated museum visitor survey: Work is underway to conduct a survey in the summer of 2011. The survey is scheduled to be submitted in July, but it will be shorter than last year and will be on one A4 sheet of paper, the questions will not exceed 12 and the museum board's costs will not exceed 500,000. Museum copyright issues – status: Halldór Björn Runólfsson plans to talk to the chairman of Myndstef and the next steps will be decided based on the outcome of that conversation. Service agreement between the Museum Council and the National Museum of Iceland 2011: The agreement has been finalized and a request for payment has been sent to the ministry. Letter from the municipality of Garður – processing of application: A letter of thanks for the allocation from the museum fund was received from Garður. Visit to Hnjót on April 7th and 8th: Margrét and Ágústa will go west to Patreksfjörður and meet with the museum board, the mayor and the museum director, as well as visiting the museum at Hnjót.
1.2. Proposal for a letter to the Budget Committee: Letter approved at the meeting. Referenced to the National Audit Office report.
1.3. New look of the Museum Council website: several suggestions reviewed, suggested adding images and colors to maps, as well as increasing font size. Check that old news is accessible on a separate page.
1.4. Proposal for internship for a student in museology at the Museum Council: Approved to hire Þóra Björk Ólafsdóttir for internship in September, she will also attend the Council meeting.
2. Papers for discussion and decision.
2.1. Comments requested on a parliamentary resolution proposal to establish the Icelandic Museum of Natural History in Selfoss: The comments point out that the Icelandic Museum of Natural History is already operating according to law.
2.2. Matters of the Egils Ólafsson Museum in Hnjótur: A comment on the outsourcing of the operation of the cafeteria was sent, stating that it is necessary not to endanger the safety of the museum's assets and that laws and codes of conduct must be followed.
2.3. Allocation 2011. Report from the Hunting Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts following the allocation 2011. Icelandic Design Museum project grants: Response letter to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Hunting Museum approved at the meeting, referring to the allocation rules and the museum fund's calculation rule. Due to technical problems, the Design Museum had been allocated project grants according to the 2010 application, this was corrected based on the 2011 application.
3. Other issues
3.1. Chessmen used in the Fischer and Spassky duel sold out of the country: Discussion of the auction of chessmen used in the 1972 duel, the matter came to the attention of the National Museum, which did not consider it a reason to stop the export since the main chessmen along with the chessmen who were the official chessmen of the duel are preserved in the National Museum.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 3:00 PM/AK.