Forvaltningsmuseenes og NIKUs ansvar og roller i forvaltningen av ...

20of the university museums on automatically listed artefacts andsites.The university museums’ basic allocation gives them the financialfreedom to undertake work which borders the administrative tasksbut which falls beyond the scope of contributions from developersor the ministry’s budget item 78. What is more, the universitymuseums are in a much better position to appoint fulltime staff towork on administrative duties than the maritime museums orNIKU, whose funding is overwhelmingly external.The university museums also find it easier to develop and retain adiverse scientific staff and stable working environment than theindependent trusts. The universities’ larger academic communitiesgive them access to specialists which allows them to putexcavation results, for example, in a wider scientific context.Size appears to be critical factor both when it comes to obtainingadequate operational funding, but also for building a diverse andwell-informed academic environment, administrative resources andopportunities. This is true of the university museums and maritimemuseums alike.Research and outreach in the administrative museums andNIKUFor present purposes we assume that research and scientificdevelopment will enable the administrative museums and NIKUto see their administrative responsibilities in a wider scientificcontext. It would also enhance the learning effects of excavationsand give greater meaning and significance to discoveries madeduring archaeological digs. Taken together, they facilitate ability ofthe administrative museums and NIKU to realise the goal of ascientifically informed or knowledge-based system of heritagemanagement.The duty to undertake research and outreach work is placed onuniversity museums precisely in light of their wider importance associal institutions. The same can be said of the basic allocationallocated by the Ministry of Culture to the maritime museums asindependent trusts. Indeed, as this study found, it is essentiallythanks to the basic allocation that research at the universitymuseums can go ahead. This finding is supported by the structuralorganization by giving staff with administrative duties anNIBR-rapport 2012:30