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Facilities Manager (museum)
A Facilities Manager supervises the maintenance of the buildings, grounds, and all mechanical systems for a museum. Working closely in collaboration with other museum staff, including administrators, Registrars, Collections Managers, Conservators, and Curators, the Facilities Manager ensures that the facilities are maintained at the optimum levels required for the preservation of collections, as well as the safety and comfort of visitors and staff.

Scope of Responsibilities
The responsibilities of the Facilities Manager will vary depending upon the size of the museum. Large institutions may have separate departments and staff for Security, Physical Plant, Buildings and Architecture, and Grounds. Smaller organizations may rely on facilities staff to assist with all of these areas.

Buildings
It is the responsibility of a Facilities Manager to maintain the safety, functionality, and appearance of museum buildings.

Building Aesthetics
The Facilities Manager may collaborate with architects, administrators, and/or historians to maintain the desired aesthetic appearance of museum buildings.

Accessibility
Building access points must be safe. Public museum sites must comply with the ADA Standards for Accessible Design.

Renovation or Construction
The Facilities Manager supervises any building renovations, new construction, or structural maintenance and coordinates with conservation, registration, and collections management staff to ensure the safety of the collections.

Environmental Systems
Extreme fluctuations in climate are avoided whenever possible in order to maintain the comfort of staff and visitors, and to ensure the safety of collections. The Facilities Manager works closely with conservation, registration, collections management, and/or curatorial staff to determine and monitor conditions for collections. Maintaining these conditions is an important component of Preventative Conservation for museum collections.

Temperature and Relative Humidity
Most museum collections require a consistent environment of 72° F (+/- 2°) and 50% Relative Humidity (+/- 5%). These climate conditions are also desirable for the comfort of visitors and staff. Some collection objects may require different conditions.

Lighting
Light levels impact visitor experience as well as condition of collections. The Facilities Manager works closely with conservation, registration, collections management and/or curatorial staff to determine, monitor, and maintain proper levels of both artificial and natural light.

Cleaning and Pest Management
The Facilities Manager supervises general housekeeping and cleaning of the museum site. The Facilities Manager may coordinate with conservation, registration, and/or collections management staff on an Integrated Pest Management system.

Security Systems
In the absence of a separate security department, the Facilities Manager may be the main point of contact for the following access and alarm systems:
 * Fire Detection and Prevention
 * Water Sensors
 * Burglary Alarms and monitoring system
 * security for staff-only areas and collection access

Emergency Preparedness
The Facilities Manager should collaborate with other staff in creating an Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response Plan for the institution.

Electrical and Plumbing
All electrical and plumbing systems for the museum are supervised by the Facilities Manager.

Grounds
Museum grounds can include landscaping, public access, roads and parking lots, and outdoor art installations.

Additional Resources
Buck, R. & Gilmore, J. A. (Eds.). Museum Registration Methods, 5th edition (2010). Washington, DC: American Association of Museums Press

Canadian Conservation Institute: Agents of Deterioration. http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng