Museographers discuss professional ethics

Mmbers of the ICOM National Committee’s Bureaus from Romania, the Ukraine and Moldova have discussed at a meeting in Chisinau about the necessity of developing a professional ethics code, in tune with the times. According to ICOM Moldova’s secretary-general, Nicoleta Zagura, the national museums need an ethics code, translated in at least two languages, which should be used as a guideline for museographers and supervisors. “In 2009, several international specialists had visited Chisinau’s museums unannounced; focusing on the Ethnographic Museum – one of the most prominent as far the supervisors go. We thus realized that those who present and supervise the museum’s exhibits are unfriendly towards the visitors. At one point, when somebody wanted to take a picture of an exhibit, he was literally grabbed by the hand by the supervisor lady. There were several unpleasant discussions as well, which demonstrate that there are some gaps, which should be discussed and I believe have many solutions”, said Nicoleta Zagura. The NGO “ICOM Moldova” wants to gather up all museographers in order to promote each other and identify co-operation opportunities, especially for the border museums. The NGO’s secretary has also declared that, beyond promotion and information, the problems that museums supervisors face are small salaries and lack of information about the museum’s exhibits and their history. According to Nicoleta Zagura, organizing the ICOM international conference has in mind promoting work ethics, standards and practices in the field of museum terminology, as well as museums and national museums’ collections in Moldova. The International Museums’ Council in Moldova (ICOM) is an NGO of the museums and museographers. ICOM Moldova is one of the 117 national committees of the International Museum’s Council (ICOM) in Paris.