Open Forum

Greetings, Matt - Any work an employee produces while being paid by the institution is the property of the institution.  Vivian

Matt,

You should check your university's faculty manual. In some cases, if museum employees have faculty status, their intellectual property is protected in the same way as faculty, whereas staff positions can be more complicated (i.e., no protections). I have seen some cases in which museum staff don't have rights to their own intellectual property but if they work with a faculty member on an exhibit or design a class visit for a faculty member, for example, the faculty has the rights to their intellectual property, not the staff person who created it.  I hope your institution has provided clarity on this for your museum - and that it works in your favor!

Best,

Kelsey Frady Malone

While of course any institutional policy would supercede assumptions, nevertheless, if the facilities and resources used are the institution's and the time spent in research and writing was remunerated by the institution, the product belongs to the institution.

Thank you both, I appreciate your responses and valuable comments with both providing important considerations for my unique position!