I have been chairman of Ipswich Transport Museum for the past 15 years

I have been chairman of Ipswich Transport Museum for the past 15 years. It is a wholly voluntary charity which operates a large museum of transport and engineering material from the Ipswich area. We believe it to be the largest collection of its type in the U.K. and also one of the leaders in the voluntary sector. It has been open to the public for eleven years now. I think I need to make one comment strongly outside of your list of questions. The relationship between professionals and volunteers within the museum community is not an easy one. Indeed, relationships between professional museums can be difficult and often exacerbated by local authority conflict. I believe that there is a vital role for both the professional and the volunteer in all museums. The keen volunteer often has far more knowledge about the objects in collections than most professionals. The latter often move around in order to develop their career and cannot accumulate the necessary local knowledge. On the other hand the volunteer, though willing, is often unknowing and cannot hope to match a trained professional. I would advocate a new partnership, with the volunteers providing the management, interpretation and stewarding of museum collections whilst leaving the conservation and display of objects to the professionals. Such a partnership might mean that the professionals worked in several museums within a given area rather than just one. This would release many of them from their current tasks which are often unsuited to their qualifications – I know of several who undertake all kinds of roles simply because there are no other staff. Volunteers could easily replace them in these situations. Issue 1 Q1– I think it essential for the museum community to instigate a “ listing” scheme similar to that employed for buildings. Currently the community has no way of knowing what is in other museums yet alone which has the best specimens. Yes, it would take time and admit for no end of debate but until we can establish who has what and which is the “ type specimen” then we cannot even contemplate disposal of objects. Such a survey would also be invaluable in steering investment in both collections and institutions. Q2 – In my area Suffolk County Council supported museums use the “ CALM” database whilst the largest museum, Ipswich Borough Council, uses “ Modes” . The Ipswich Transport Museum does not wish to expend money on commercial databases so have created our own. What is desperately needed is a standard data interchange system regardless of database. We have to export our information to Suffolk C. C. for conversion to another standard compatible with “ Access to Archives” , which uses yet another system. There is plethora of websites jostling for information – “ 24 hour museum” – A2A and so on. We need a single system of transporting information to these from any type of database. Issue 2 Q3 – We are very strongly committed to education but there are few “ rewards” for museums to work for. In fact, issues such as adults working with children, “ risk analysis” before visits and the cost of transport between school and museum all tend to reduce school visits. Q4 – No comment Q5 – All of our information is that HE and FE simply do not have the time to make museum visits (applies equally to Key Stage 3 and upwards). We see Key stage 1 & 2 and pre-school children. We would be delighted to work up some social history papers or evolution of technology or whatever but there is absolutely no demand whatsoever. Issue 3 Q6 – I am amazed that we, a wholly voluntary museum, are giving work experience to two female graduates who would like to work in the museums sector. However, they are told that they must have “ experience” before applying for jobs. Therefore we, the voluntary sector, are training potential museum professionals – at NO COST to the professional sector! This is not new and the professional sector really needs to work at easing both entry into the profession and subsequent career progression. Q7 – One for the professionals. Q8 – Ditto – we have had an Indian born volunteer. Issue 4 Q9 – I am concerned that we have regional bodies looking after Museums, Libraries and Archives (who have served us well in the past) that are now paralleled by the Museum Hubs concept. These are so new that we cannot really comment on their effectiveness but there is a danger of spreading resources (both money and people) too thinly to be really effective. Q10 – The Local Authority museums might be better steered (and funded) if they were turned into trusts run by existing “ Friends” organisations. This is consistent with my view that such people probably have better knowledge of the collections. Issue 5 Q11 – We currently work within several partnerships. Nationally as part of the National Association for Road Transport Museums, locally as members of the Association for Suffolk Museums and, very locally, as part of the Ipswich Heritage Group. These all bring various benefits but require a good deal of input from ourselves. However, all of these partnerships are generally “ arms length” in that little exchange of exhibits takes place and they are mainly used as “ information exchange” . Q12 – The idea of “ listing” objects would reveal those institutions with significantly important collections and that might be reflected in a “ star” rating. The existing Museum Accreditation scheme could be enhanced to include some quality assessment (like hotels or restaurants, perhaps). Q13 – We did attempt a European initiative a few years back with transport museums in Lille and Amsterdam. This failed as the funding was for under 24-year olds involved in exchange visits whereas we were hoping to put together an international web site in three languages! So, I suppose the answer is that it is better for the museum community to come up with some ideas rather than let Brussels decide beforehand.