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Dear Emma, conservation requirements do, of course, play an important role. But exploration with handling gloves has very little to do with multi-sensory exploration - which surely is an aim of handling collections. Perhaps wearing handing gloves can initiate pupils into the work of conservators. That's good. I would hate a blanket ban on the handling of original objects - as reflective prationers we can come up with more sophisticated solutions. It takes a case-by case decision and depends very much on the collection and its usages. When it comes to blind visitors, who are a minority among visually impaired people, I emphatically advocate the handling of original objects without gloves - *and in as far as this is possible*. Handling gloves are the equivalent of early synthetic speech. No blind person would ever read a novel by say Jane Austen or Julian Barnes with the synthetic speech software of the nineties. It would simply destroy the encounter with the original. I need to stress that objects that blind visitors can touch will be touched far, far less than handling collections for schools. *Conservators have not yet had a debate on how far the limits of freedom to touch for blind people can go.* Eight years ago a conservator of a major global museum told an audience of visually impaired and sighted art lovers, that according to the very strict conservation criteria some 200 objects of the permanent collections of the museum could be made available for touching. Yet, in the past 8 eight years the small touch tour of some 8 or 12 objects or so has not been increased or added to. Other major global museums do not do any better. In short, blind people only get the crumbs of the world's great local, national and global collections - yet the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008) recognises the right for access 'on equal terms', and as early as 1992, the Council of Europe called for 'significant and lasting improvements' in access to culture for all disabled people. Of course 'access on an equal basis' is a utopian aspiration, but even in 'a pragmatic world', we remain miles away from the 'significant improvements' called for in access to collections for people with a sensory impairment. More information on international cultural rights policies for disabled people, and particulary visually impaired people can be found www.st-dunstans.org.uk/itwa (these pages include the Resolution of the international conference "In Touch with Art" held in last October at the V&A and the talk "Access to European museum collections is a right, not a luxury", which I gave in December in Brussels on the occasion of gave at European Day of Persons with a Disability). The Resolution is interesting, because it focuses on practice and tries to bridge the gap which so often exists between policy and practice. all best wishes, Marcus Marcus Weisen Consultant Content Director St Dunstan's In Touch with Art Conference 2010 Director - Jodi Mattes Trust for accessible digital culture, www.jodiawards.org.uk On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 11:11 AM, Janine Marriott <[log in to unmask] > wrote: > I've always tried to use them as I feel it promotes good habits and also > gives a feeling of 'specialness' to handling the objects > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Emma Webb <[log in to unmask]> > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Sent:* Thu, 7 April, 2011 10:01:11 > *Subject:* using gloves with handling collections > > Gloves or not gloves? Any views on whether we should be making school ( > and other groups) always wear gloves when handling objects that are part of > museum education handling collections? We have introduced as standard but > problems with sticky gloves, badly fitting gloves etc etc > > Any comments? > > > > Emma Webb > > Learning Manager > > National Museums Scotland > > Chambers Street > > Edinburgh > > EH1 1JF > > > > Tel: +44 (0) 131 247 4267 > > Email: [log in to unmask] > > > > > > > Visit the Edinburgh International Science Festival at the National Museum > of Scotland 9 - 22 April www.nms.ac.uk/sciencefestival > > National Museums Scotland, Scottish Charity, No. SC 011130 > This communication is intended for the addressee(s) only. If you are not > the addressee please inform the sender and delete the email from your > system. The statements and opinions expressed in this message are those of > the author and do not necessarily reflect those of National Museums > Scotland. This message is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 and > Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. 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