1. The Administrator shall, in accordance with any directive received from the Director pursuant to NRS 232.005, authorize or require each museum director to perform such duties set forth in subsections 2 and 3 as are necessary for the operation of the institution administered by the museum director, after giving consideration to:

(a) The size and complexity of the programs the museum director is required to administer;

(b) The number of personnel needed to carry out those programs;

(c) Requirements for accreditation; and

(d) Such other factors as are relevant to the needs of the institution and the Division.

2. The Administrator may authorize or require a museum director to:

(a) Oversee duties related to the auditing and approval of all bills, claims and accounts of the institution administered by the museum director.

(b) Receive, collect, exchange, preserve, house, care for, document, interpret, display and exhibit, particularly, but not exclusively, respecting the State of Nevada:

(1) Samples of the useful and fine arts, sciences and industries, relics, memorabilia, products, works, records, rare and valuable articles and objects, including, without limitation, drawings, etchings, lithographs, photographs, paintings, statuary, sculpture, fabrics, furniture, implements, machines, geological and mineral specimens, precious, semiprecious and commercial minerals, metals, earths, gems and stones.

(2) Books, papers, records and documents of historic, artistic, literary or industrial value or interest by reason of rarity, representative character or otherwise.

(c) Collect, gather and prepare the natural history of Nevada and the Great Basin.

(d) Establish such programs in history, archeology, anthropology, paleontology, mineralogy, ethnology, ornithology and such other programs as in the judgment of the Board and Administrator may be proper and necessary to carry out the objects and purposes appropriate to the institution administered by the museum director.

(e) Receive and collect property from any appropriate agency of the State of Nevada, or from accessions, gifts, exchanges, loans or purchases from any other agencies, persons or sources.

(f) House and preserve, care for and display or exhibit property received by an institution. This paragraph does not prevent the permanent or temporary retention, placement, housing or exhibition of a portion of the property in other places or locations in or outside of the State at the sole discretion of the Board.

(g) Make and obtain plans and specifications and let and supervise contracts for work or have the work done on force account or day labor, supplying material or labor, or otherwise.

(h) Receive, accept and obtain by exchange in the name of the State of Nevada all property loaned to the institution administered by the museum director for preservation, care, display or exhibit, or decline and reject the property in his or her discretion, and undertake to be responsible for all property loaned to the institution or make just payment of any reasonable costs or rentals therefor.

(i) Apply for and expend all gifts and grants that the institution administered by the museum director is authorized to accept in accordance with the terms and conditions of the gift or grant.

(j) Govern, manage and control the exhibit and display of all property and things of the institution administered by the museum director at other exhibits, expositions, world’s fairs and places of public or private exhibition. Any property of the State of Nevada that may be placed on display or on exhibition at any world’s fair or exposition must be taken into custody by the Administrator at the conclusion of the world’s fair or exposition and placed and kept in the institution, subject to being removed and again exhibited at the discretion of the Administrator or a person designated by the Administrator.

(k) Negotiate and consult with and agree with other institutions, departments, officers and persons or corporations of and in the State of Nevada and elsewhere respecting quarters for and the preservation, care, transportation, storage, custody, documentation, interpretation, display and exhibit of articles and things controlled by the institutions and respecting the terms and cost, the manner, time, place and extent, and the return thereof.

(l) Trade, exchange and transfer exhibits and duplicates when the Administrator deems it proper. Such transactions shall not be deemed sales.

(m) Establish the qualifications for life, honorary, annual, sustaining and such other memberships as are established by the Board pursuant to NRS 381.0045.

(n) Adopt rules for the internal operations of the institution administered by the museum director, including, without limitation, the operation of equipment of the institution.

3. The Administrator shall require a museum director to serve as, or to designate an employee to serve as, ex officio State Paleontologist. The State Paleontologist shall, within the limits of available time, money and staff:

(a) Systematically inventory the paleontological resources within the State of Nevada;

(b) Compile a database of fossil resources within this State;

(c) Coordinate and promote paleontological research activities within this State, including, without limitation, regulating and issuing permits to engage in such activities;

(d) Disseminate and assist other persons in disseminating information gained from research conducted by the State Paleontologist; and

(e) Display and promote, and assist other persons in displaying and promoting, the paleontological resources of this State to enhance education, culture and tourism within this State.

4. The enumeration of the powers and duties that may be assigned to a museum director pursuant to this section is not exclusive of other general objects and purposes appropriate to a public museum.

5. The provisions of this section do not prohibit the Administrator from making such administrative and organizational changes as are necessary for the efficient operation of the Division and its institutions and to ensure that an institution properly carries out the duties and responsibilities assigned to that institution.

(Added to NRS by 2001, 927; A 2009, 382; 2011, 2979)