We recently had an incident at our museum where a college class had reserved our Collections Study Room, which is a space we have dedicated to allow teachers/professors to teach using real objects from our collection, and when the class arrived, one of the students had a service dog with them. While we have ADA-compliant policies regarding service animals in all our public spaces, the collections study room is not a public space, and is used by students and researchers to directly access, handle and study museum collection objects. This situation has brought up questions around what to do if someone who requires a service animal is looking to access collections storage areas, or other spaces where museum objects might be kept. If you could take a few moments and answer the questions below, we would all be very appreciative.
1. What concerns would you list as an argument against allowing service animals in collections storage/study spaces? 2. Does your institution have a standard policy for service animals in non-public spaces? Would you be willing to share that policy? 3. Have you/your institution ever denied a request to access a particular collections space (not otherwise open to the public), because an individual would require a service animal? Thank you all, I look forward to your comments and responses. Alexis North Project Conservator University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 3260 South Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> www.penn.museum<http://www.penn.museum> ****** Unsubscribe by sending a message to [email protected] Archives through August 2016 at http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/ Archives from September 2016 onward at https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
