Curator as a museum administrator

Traditionally, a curator or keeper of cultural heritage in an institution (gallery, museum, library or archive) is content specialist responsible for an institutions collection. Curators concern necessarily involves tangible objects of some sort, whether it be inter alia artwork, collectibles, historic items or scientific collections. Most recently, new kinds of curators are emerging curators of […]

Traditionally, a curator or keeper of cultural heritage in an institution (gallery, museum, library or archive) is content specialist responsible for an institutions collection. Curators concern necessarily involves tangible objects of some sort, whether it be inter alia artwork, collectibles, historic items or scientific collections. Most recently, new kinds of curators are emerging curators of digital data objects and biocurators.
The term ‘Curator’ in the United Kingdom, is also applied to government employees who monitor the quality of contract archaeological work under planning policy guidance 16: Archaeology and Planning (PPG 16) and are considered to manage the cultural resource of a region. In the museum setting, a curator in the United Kingdom may also be called a “keeper”. In Scotland, the term “Curator” is used to mean the guardian of a child.
While in Nigeria, the head of the museum is referred to as the curator while in some other countries heads of museums are called Directors. In talking about the curator as a museum administrator, we will be talking about the curator being able to co-ordinate both human and material resources available, on a day to day basis to achieve the desired aims and objectives of the museum. Museums have since developed and are still developing in different parts of the world, so the curator has the task of keeping the museum alive for prosperity.
In smaller organizations, a curator may have sole responsibility for the acquisition and care of objects. The curator will make decisions regarding what objects to collect, oversee their care and documentation, conduct research based on the collection, provide packaging of art for transport and share that research with the public and scholarly community through exhibitions and publications
In very small volunteer-based museums, such as local historical societies, a curator may be the only paid staff member. In larger institutions, the curator’s primary function is as a subject specialist with the expectation that he or she will conduct original research on objects and guide the organization in its collection. Such institutions can have multiple curators each assigned to specific collecting area (e.g. curator of ancient art, curator of prints and drawings etc) and often operating under the direction of a head curator.
In such organizations, the physical care of the collection may be overseen by museum collections managers or museum conservators, and documentation and administrative matters (such as insurance and loans are handled by a museum registrar.
Since curators are in charge of collection of objects, they must know what to collect. The collection of objects can be based on the kind of museum that the organization is operating. This is to say there are museums for arts, science, historical, botanical and zoological gardens.
The curator is also responsible for exhibitions and by exhibition we mean the showing or displaying of objects for the purpose of communication to the public. This is to inform the public about history of objects. To exhibit objects a lot needs to be done. In an exhibition, objects are usually arranged in a specific order. This may be chronologically (according to order, time or number), historically (according to events that happened in the past), geographically (according to zone or specific areas and their cultures) or based on some other principles. The exhibition on display has to be very visible to the public, lights and other visionary appliances may be used to add proper display of the objects. The exhibitions must be eye-catching, and must hold attention so as to educate, stimulate and entertain.
The curator has to care for the object. Objects to a curator are like “babies” and should be handled as such and by this we mean the curator has to provide a suitable place where the objects cannot be damaged or destroyed. The objects have to be kept away from direct sunlight, water or any agent of erosion. After the collection of the objects, the objects must be registered or catalogued which is termed “DOCUMENTATION”. The process of documentation is one in which everything about the objects has to be extensively documented like age, size, colour, sex, height, history of the object, weight, source, the producer/maker, year of production, use of the object, condition of the object and so on. The object also has to be photographed.
Basically, there are some conditions which the curator must adhere to for the requisitions of objects:
Museums don’t collect conditional gifts
Museums don’t collect stolen objects
Museums don’t collect fake objects.
To achieve these responsibilities effectively, the curator must plan, organize, co-ordinate and control all available resources for maximum output. The curator must also act with integrity, be ethical and yet objective. This implies that the curator must study to know the code of conduct as stipulated by ICOM and must also be acquainted of laws of the land.
In conclusion, museum curators are indeed administrators and must therefore prepare themselves by taking courses that will enhance their work, read books and journals belonging to museum organizations (M.A.N, ICOM, AFRICOM etc) and attend induction course. The curator is to keep in mind the equation proffered by Elis Burcaw, that:
Object + Care + use = Worth of Museum
Results (educational, Inspirational) = efficiency of museum
In as much as the museum is opened to the public, the curator must ensure that while encouraging visitors and staff to feel at home, precaution must be taken to avoid damage and disturbance. A good administrator will therefore invest in the security unit, providing adequate work materials. 
Saleh wrote from the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) Kaduna.