General Collections Policy of the Finnish Museum of Natural History

As part of its quality management and goal-driven strategic development, the Finnish
Museum of Natural History Luomus drafts policy documents to guide its operational
sectors. The purpose of such policies is to define the content and procedures of the
Museum’s activities. They answer the questions “what”, “why”, “who” and “for whom” about
the activities they discuss, which is to say that they define and delimit the scope of the
operational sector, provide the operations with a purpose and determine their content,
describe the allocation of responsibilities in the sector under the Luomus organisation and
identify the target groups. The policies provide general objectives and thus form the basis
for target programmes and any action plans which in turn answer the question “How can
we reach the designated goals?”. Policies are not tied to a schedule, unlike target
programmes, even though they must be dynamic and updated periodically to better serve
the organisation. The core activities at Luomus are: (1) maintenance of the scientific
collections, (2) research and (3) expert services. The General Collections Policy sets
guidelines for the maintenance of the scientific collections based on the mission of the
University of Helsinki and Luomus