DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law Volume 22 Issue 1 Fall 2011 Article 5 All in a Day's Work: How Museums May Approach Deaccessioning as a Necessary Collections Management Tool Heather Hope Stephens Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/jatip Recommended Citation Heather H. Stephens, All in a Day's Work: How Museums May Approach Deaccessioning as a Necessary Collections Management Tool, 22 DePaul J. Art, Tech. & Intell. Prop. L. 119 (2011) Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/jatip/vol22/iss1/5 This Seminar Articles is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Law at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Stephens: All in a Day's Work: How Museums May Approach Deaccessioning as a ALL IN A DAY'S WORK: HOW MUSEUMS MAY APPROACH DEACCESSIONING AS A NECESSARY COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT TOOL 1. INTRODUCTION Deaccessioning is the removal of an object from a museum's permanent collection. Deaccession is addressed in numerous professional organizational and institutional ethical codes, but there are few statutes or cases governing museum collection management policies. Recognizing there is a need for a universal standard, this Article seeks to synthesize previous museum practices so that it may be a reference going forward. In light of prior practices, this Article contends that museums must (1) deaccession for reasons accepted by the museum field, (2) require proper authority to approve a deaccession, and (3) act in compliance with fiduciary duties so challenged deaccessions will be protected by the business judgment rule.