February 28, 2000
CONTENTS:
- Museum and Cultural Property CD-ROM
- "Arrogance"
Dear Subscribers,
A few months ago Steve Keller sent me a preview of his CD project on Museums and Cultural property, and I want all of you to know that I was VERY much impressed. It is hard to understand that one person is able to achieve this much. Steve must have invested a lot of time and energy in this huge project. Order this free CD and look for yourself. Steve is living proof of the fact that 'all work and no play' did not make him a 'dull boy'!
Ton Cremers
From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Date sent: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 00:25:24 EST
Subject: Museum and Cultural Property CD-ROM
To: securma@xs4all.nl
Ton:
Some time ago you and I discussed a project I was considering that involved making a CD-ROM that contains all of the current and past materials pertaining to museum and cultural property security. What I conceived would hopefully become the definitive resource on museum security available. Well, I want to inform your readers that the first edition is ready for distribution and in fact I gave out several hundred copies in Washington at the Smithsonian Conference.
This version that I call Version 1.0 is far from definitive but I had to start somewhere. It contains all of the fifty or so articles I have written over the years, the full text of a book I wrote with Ernie Lipple called "Interpreting and Implementing the Suggested Guidelines for Museum Security", and many forms, policies, and other things of use to colleagues. It even has a 15 minute video on it. It contains over 550 MB of data in all. All files except the video are in Adobe Acrobat 4.0, and Acrobat Reader 4.0 for both Mac and PC are included in case you don't have it. Most browsers can read the Quicktime video with built in helper programs. We are already working on Version 2.0 and some of the aspects of Version 3.0 are even in the works.
We are inviting everyone with something to contribute to do so. Over the next several years this FREE CD-ROM will expand in size and quality. I've gotten commitments from many professional colleagues who have promised to submit articles. These include a fire protection engineer, an architect specializing in museums, etc. I am almost finished with a book called "Museum Security: Concepts and Practices" and it will be included in its entirely on Version 2.0 to be issued a year from now. We have received permission to include the 22 minute video "Museum Security: The Guard's Role" produced by the Art Institute of Chicago on the next edition as well.
I stress that this is a totally free project. I am paying all of the costs as the sponsor of the project. It is non-commercial in nature. Professionals who contribute articles or other materials will include their company brochure but this material will be totally separate from the articles. No article will contain commercial pitches other than the authors name and company name at the top of their article. I have approached the Smithsonian about including past articles from the Proceedings of the National Conference which are currently out of print as I feel that many of these articles would be useful to preserve.
Version 3.0 to be released two years from now will have an interactive virtual tour of a museum. As you mouse around the blueprint you can click on icons and learn about museum security. At the employee entrance, for example, there will be an icon for "policies", "hardware and equipment", "practices", etc.
This is an exciting project and we are looking forward to making it better each year. It will always be free to everyone.
If your readers did not receive a free copy at the Smithsonian Conference and would like one, they can go to my web site at www.stevekeller.com and click on the link to the CD-Project FAQ Sheet. It will tell them how to request it by email. If you would like to contribute an article, a form, checklist, sample policy, etc., go to this page and learn the details about how to participate.
We manufactured 1000 of these CD's in the initial pressing and will make more if necessary. We will try to ship US and Canada orders quickly but there may be a delay for CD's shipped out of North America so be patient. We will also distribute them at the Virginia Museum Association Conference next week and at the AAM Conference in May. My clients wil be getting one in the mail soon but I'd still like them to request one if they want one so it finds its way to the correct person in the organization.
We do have one requirement and that is that if you receive this version and think that you may want Version 2.0 when it is released, you will have to have registered this copy with us by printing the registration form and faxing it back to us. We expect demand for Version 2.0 and 3.0 to be greater than the supply and we will give copies to registered users first. Because of the cost of the project--about $15,000 per year--we don't want to waste any and registering helps us know how many to make of each edition.
I encourage everyone to think about what he or she may have to contribute to the next edition. Even if you never wrote an article, you may have a great policy or disaster plan or checklist or object removal notice or visitor sign in sheet or property pass, or . . . Wouldn't it be nice to have a resource where you could go to and get five or six of each type of form and select one that you can modify for your specific needs? This is that resource but only if you participate.
The above referenced web site has information on submission, deadline and copyright requirements. The project is in English. This is a big project and we are a small company. If you want to participate, don't wait for a special invitation. Contact us! You DO have something to offer.
In my recent presentation to the Smithsonian Conference which Ton has posted on the SECURMA site I challenged my colleagues to do something that changes the way their profession does things. I'm trying to put my money and my efforts where my mouth is with sponsorship of this project, and the rest is up to you. You can be part of the definitive resource on cultural property protection.
I hope you all enjoy the CD and see its potential.
Steve Keller
Museum Security Consultant
steve@stevekeller.com
For more information on the CD project and to order yours: www.stevekeller.com
From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Subject: "Arrogance"
I got an interesting email from a respected security director in the U.S. who sent his two supervisors to the Smithsonian Conference and suggested that they attend my break out session. I presented a paper called "How Do You Want To Be Remembered" which Ton has reprinted on the SECURMA site. The security director said that his reading of the paper and his supervisors' opinion after hearing me speak, was that I was "arrogant". His specific comment was directed toward a comment I made in which I said that I have not seen a truly adequate security policy manual in a museum or very many acceptable disaster plans (although in my oral presentation I did qualify this portion by saying that the Getty's disaster plan was exceptional if not more than any of the less well funded museums could administer).
You can read the paper and decide for yourself what I said (at http://museum-security.org/keller-natconf2000.pdf ). Unless you were there you have no way of knowing whether I sounded arrogant. I can only assume that these two attendees do not know me or my style of calling things exactly as I see them. After the presentation a veteran museum Deputy Director and a veteran Operations Manager from a very large institution came up to offer compliments, both saying that the presentation was inspirational (as it was intended to be). Many others stopped me to indicate that the presentation was positive to them.
If I came off arrogant to anyone, I apologize. First, I try not to be arrogant. Confident, yes. Arrogant, no, although some might think so, I'm sure. To the two supervisory level people who felt that their manual is excellent and I should not have painted everyone with the same critical brush, I want you to know that you may, indeed, have a superior work product. I've just not seen it. They asked why I have not "stopped by" their museum to see their operation. I would have known how good their program is. They felt that I should not have implied that there are no good manuals out there. I spend 180 nights a year in hotels visiting clients and can rarely just stop by museums for a visit nor do I have any business doing so without the slightest inkling that they have something superior or would even want to share it with me.
I wrote back to the attendees through their security director and explained that I never intend to sound arrogant. But having been in the museum security business for almost 22 years and having served over 250 museums as consultant, I've seen a great deal and arrogant or not, there is much room for improvement in what I have seen. My challenge to them and to the others was simply a challenge. It was not a personal insult. I'm terribly sorry if it sounded that way.
In 1979-1980 I wrote a policy manual that was printed by the hundreds of copies and shared extensively with other museums who requested it and I still find in use in museums today. It was excellent but it was far from perfect. Over the years I, through my former museum and my clients, have experienced thefts, fires, disasters, extortions, vandalism, accidents, injuries, and every type of problem imaginable. Every time I think we have all bases covered, there is a new twist. There are fires in the gallery, fires on the roof, fires in the dumpster, fires in the electrical system, fires on the truck transporting art, smoke of unknown origin, etc. When I wrote my fire policy and procedure I never conceived of all of the possibilities that had to be addressed in the policies that wrote.
While I may have come off arrogant, I can assure you that the older I get and the more experienced I become, the LESS arrogant I am. If you think I am arrogant now, you should have seen me exactly 20 years ago this month when I spoke for the first time at the Smithsonian Conference about how the largest art theft in US history occurred in my museum the day I was hired and how I handled the problem. With each passing year--and this was my 18th or 19th presentation at the Smithsonian Conference--I become more humbled by how little I know and how much more there is to learn about cultural property protection. Clearly a third of my work day is engaged in learning. I carefully study all events that occur in museums that might face my clients. I study security technology down to the circuit board level. I study people. And the only thing I am sure about is that things are changing so quickly that I know less today than I did 20 years ago.
It is when you think that you have perfect security, you are at your most vulnerable. My presentation was intended to challenge. I'm sorry if anyone saw it otherwise. If others felt this way and my comments turned them off, then my presentation was not fully effective and I'd like to reconsider the directness of my teaching approach.
Steve Keller