Life of a Loan

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Life of a Loan

• By Anna Cataldo
• Amy Phillips-Iversen
• MSEM 643.01 Collection Management
• 11 Dec. 2006

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Reasons for loans

• Loans for exhibition
• Exchange loans
• Study loans
• Promised gifts
• Long-term loans - an object loaned to a museum
  for long-term use. For record keeping purposes,
  often treated as part of the permanent
  collection.

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Loan request made by Borrowing Institution

• Includes
• title of exhibition
• purpose of loan
• length of loan period
• locations of exhibitions with dates

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Loan Approval Process _at_ lending institution

• Involves several museum departments e.g. curator,
  conservator, registrar, director board members
• Object evaluation
• Borrowing Institution evaluation
• Facility report needed - helps in assessing an
  institutions capabilities and ability to fulfill
  its duties and responsibilities as the acting
  steward of the loaned object in possession.
• RC-AAM developed standardized form for evaluating
  borrowers

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Loan Request Approval or Denial

• Approval
• Notification of loan terms
• Letter of acceptance sent to borrowing
  institution

• Denial
• Reasons for denial should be clearly stated
• Lending institution should be willing to work
  with borrowing institution so they may come to
  some agreement

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Agreements ConditionsSample Loan Agreement
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Agreements Conditions

• Outgoing Loan Agreement includes
• Loan Care
• -measures to protect against loss, damage, or
  deterioration while at borrowing institution
• Adequate Insurance
• - borrower accepts responsibility for insuring
  loans
• - coverage should be all risk, not named
  perils
• - insurance values determined by lender - must
  reflect market value
• Costs
• -borrower incurs all expenses relating to the
  loan
• Packing and Shipping arrangements
• - mutually agreed upon
• -packing methods determined by travel
  distance, route, type of conveyance, size,
  media, fragility, value

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Outgoing Loan Processing _at_ lending museum

• Involves preparing the object for travel
• Completing an outgoing condition report
• -To document any blemishes, instabilities, old
  repairs or preexisting conditions
• Completing a condition report for any
  accompanying accessories to the object e.g.
  frame, bases etc
• Outgoing loan receipt

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Incoming Loan Processing _at_ borrowing museum

• Complete condition reports immediately after
  arrival
• Assign temp. loan number to object(s)
• Issue receipt of loan transaction

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Ongoing Loan Management

• Tracking and monitoring loans
• Periodically review insurance values esp. for
  long-term loans

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Loan Object Return Process

• When loan expires, borrowing
• museum must return the loan
• object
• Contact lending museum
• Conduct outgoing condition report for all
  elements associated with object
• Repack object using same materials as when it
  arrived
• Send along with object an outgoing receipt.
• Bills associated with the loan are received and
  processed for payment

• Lending Museum will
• unpack objects as promptly as possible after
  acclimatization
• Compares object to outgoing condition reports
• If damages, calls registrar at borrowing museum
  decides whether to file an insurance claim
• If all is in agreement, lending museum signs and
  returns outgoing agreement verifying the return
  of all loaned objects in satisfactory condition

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Helpful Resources

• Registrars Committee of the American Association
  of Museums at http//www.rcaam.org/
• Museum Loan Network at http//loanet.mit.edu/main_
  cswn.html
• The Museum Loan Network (MLN) facilitates the
  long-term loan of art and objects of cultural
  heritage among U.S. institutions as a way to
  enhance the installations of museums, thus
  enabling them to better serve their communities.
  The MLN grants and its programs have led to the
  sharing of objects among different types of
  museums, fostering collaborations between
  institutions of varying size and discipline
  throughout the United States. An important
  component of the MLN is its online directory, an
  illustrated database of works available for
  long-term loan from a wide range of institutions.
  Funded and initiated by the John S. and James L.
  Knight Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts,
  the MLN is administered by the Massachusetts
  Institute of Technology's Office of the Arts.

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Old Loans (aka Unclaimed Loans)

• Serious problem facing museums today b/c
• a drain on financial and human resources
• Legal issues of ownership
• Provenance

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• Thank you!