Minutes of the 57th meeting of the Museum Council, 20 February 2007, 11:30 – 13:30, National Gallery of Iceland, Laufaásvegur 12, 101 Reykjavík.
Present were: Ólafur Kvaran, Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, Jón Gunnar Ottósson, Karl Rúnar Þórsson, Sveinn Kristinsson and Rakel Halldórsdóttir. Eiríkur Þorláksson, a specialist in the field of museum affairs at the Ministry of Education and Culture, was present for part of the meeting.
1.The minutes of the 54th and 55th meetings were approved and signed. A comment was made to the minutes of the 56th meeting. The minutes will be signed at the next meeting.
2.Report of the Managing Director. An assessment of the Þingeyingi collections. The Managing Director, National Heritage Officer and Director of the Skagfjordur Regional Museum conducted, at the request of the Þingeyingi District Committee, an assessment of the work, status, policy and potential of the Þingeyingi museums in connection with the newly established Þingeyingi Cultural Centre. Cooperation committee of parties from public Nordic museum institutions, which was appointed before the dissolution of the Nordic Museums Committee at the turn of the year, will meet for the first time in Oslo on 23 and 24 May 2019. The Executive Director was appointed to the committee, but will not be able to attend the meeting. MH, National Museums Commissioner, will attend the meeting. Document for grantees from the Museum Fund. There was discussion about sending grantees from the 2007 Museum Fund a document regarding the grant as a kind of certification of professional activity. The Executive Director was tasked with making a proposal for a document. European Museum of the Year Award 2008Nomination documents for the Reykjavík Museum's nomination for the Settlement Exhibition 871 +/-2 must be submitted by March 15th. Application by the Archaeological Institute of Iceland for permission to export samples for carbon dating abroad. Permission has been granted for a sample of human bone. The comments of the curators of the National Museum of Iceland and the Icelandic Archaeological Conservation Agency were sought and both were positive. The report was referred to the Icelandic Institute of Natural History according to Article 2, Section 12 and Paragraph 3 of Act No. 105/2001 and Article 15 of Act No. 60/1992 for a sample of animal bone. NÍ has granted permission for this. Procedures for the export of cultural property. The following points will be added to the procedures for the export of cultural property: 1) Permits for the export of cultural property will be written in English and the permit must accompany the property abroad and also return (unless it is a sample that is destroyed during research). 2) The Director of the Museums Council has the authority of the Museums Council to issue permits for the export of cultural property on behalf of the Council if the commenters give their approval for the export and if there are no issues. Otherwise, the matter will be submitted to a Museums Council meeting. Museum Studies at the University of Iceland. A collaborative group on the development of a master's degree program in museum studies at the University of Iceland, led by the Hon., has sent a request to the University of Iceland's board requesting that the University of Iceland launch the program. This decision was made following an agreement between the Ministry of Education and Culture and the University of Iceland on teaching and research, which stipulates a 300 million krónur increase in donations to the University in 2007 and a 640 million krónur increase per year in the following years. Chairman of the Museum Council summoned. The meeting is the current chairman's last meeting with the Museum Council. Ólafur Kvaran will step down as director of the National Gallery of Iceland on March 1st and will then also step down from the Museum Council in accordance with Article 2 of the Museums Act No. 106/2001. The chairman was thanked for his good work. The Minister of Education and Culture appoints a new chairman and vice-chairman in accordance with Article 2 of the Museums Act.
3. Replacement of the position of Managing Director. The CEO will go on maternity leave in the afternoon of July (+/- a few weeks) and plans to take seven months off. It was agreed that Anna Þorbjörg Þorgrímsdóttir will replace the CEO during the maternity leave. Anna Þorbjörg has MA degrees in history and museology and is working on a doctoral thesis in history, but she will take a break from her studies during the replacement period. An agreement will be made with Anna Þorbjörg for the replacement position.
4. Museums Council website – new look and redesign. New stationery with the new Museum Council logo has been put into use, designed by Hildigunn Gunnarsdóttir, designer. Hildigunn's idea for a new look for the Museum Council website was approved. A cost estimate for design and programming was approved. In addition to the new look, a new list of museum institutions in the country will be put into use in the new version of the Museum Council website, where each institution will have its own page on the Museum Council website with basic information about the institution and the possibility of more detailed information about educational programs and more. The possibility of also linking a map of the location of museum institutions to each institution in the list will be examined. Museum institutions will update information on their own page with a password. The list of museum institutions will offer several search functions, for example, searching for all institutions in a specific location. The Managing Director was tasked with continuing the project.
5. Museums Council conference on electronic access to cultural and natural heritage in March 2007. The planned Museum Council conference on electronic accessibility was discussed on March 14, 2007. The Museum Council discussed the draft agenda for the symposium and approved the agenda and speakers. The Executive Director will continue to work on the organization and preparation of the symposium.
6. Meeting schedule 2007. The draft meeting schedule for 2007 was discussed. The meeting schedule will be finalized electronically for the next meeting.
7. ICOM's explanations and codes of conduct. The translation of the ICOM Code of Ethics and Conventions in the Icelandic museum environment was briefly discussed. JGO pointed out shortcomings in the translation of the ICOM Code of Ethics. The issue will be discussed further at the next meeting and the Chair of ICOM in Iceland, Lilja Árnadóttir, will be invited to the meeting. The idea of ICOM entrusting the Museum Council with responsibility for the professional translation of the ICOM Code of Ethics and Conventions was discussed.
8. Pétur Arason's talk, SAFNIPétur Arason requested an explanation for the refusal of a grant to SAFN from the Museum Fund in 2007. A letter of response was approved.
9. Natural History Museums – application for a project grant from the Icelandic Museum Fund 2006 for a registration system for natural history museums. A letter has been received from the Ministry of Education and Culture requesting that the Museums Council not provide further funding for the preparation of a selection of a registration system for natural history museums until the Icelandic Museum of Natural History has been established. EÞ, an expert in the Ministry of Education and Culture, was invited to the meeting to discuss the contents of the letter. The contents of the letter were discussed, as were applications for the project for 2006 and 2007. It was agreed to entrust the Icelandic Institute of Natural History with submitting a proposal to the Museums Council on a course of action for the project. The proposal is accompanied by a new cost estimate and a description of the project.
10. NODEM conference 2008. KRÞ briefly introduced the matter. It was agreed to take up the matter again later, as requested by FÍSOS.
11. Next meeting and other matters.
The next meeting according to the new meeting schedule is March 28th.
The next meeting according to the new meeting schedule is March 28th.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM/RH.