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Much buzz was there this summer about the Acropolis Museum, and it was not because of his beautiful collection of ancient artifacts. First, the Union of publishers accused the management of the institution in a selective and highly opaque method of selection of the titles in the museum bookstore. Second, the State Board found that during the crisis in 2010 additional appointments have been made outside the legal framework that will burden the public budget with  over 4,35 million euro.

The problem is that in Greece things have never been simply black or white. The appointments, which the State Council reffered to have been made on the basis of presidential decree, which turned out to be differed with the existing legislation. According to Article 103 of the Constitution Museums generally work with permanent staff, which is considered to be part of the state administration, announced the Greek media. Additional open-ended contracts which can be signed without the approval of the Public Administration Recruitment Agency (ASEP) apply only to archaeologists, museum workers, conservators, architects and computer specialists.

New employees who were appointed with a contract for an indefinite period of time at the Museum of the Acropolis are specialized in the field of philology, sociological studies and other humanitarian studies and were not listed among the regulated appointments. As a result, 41 of the appointments last year were ruled as illegal, and the salaries of the employees have burdened the state budget beyond the planned. This fact angered part of public opinion which supported the idea that in times of financial crisis and layoffs, additional appointments were inappropriate and even provocative.

Another problem that occurred around the Acropolis Museum was the resentment of the Union of publishers in relation to the manner in which titles and publishers represented in the bookstore of the largest Greek museum are selected. They argue that there are serious obstacles to the objective evaluation of the books that come into the museum shop.

The struggle for a place on the shelves of the bookstore in the museum is great because it is visited daily by an average of four to six thousand people. The beautiful exhibition and the admiration, which the museum leaves at the guests, makes each visitor get something for a keepsake either from the souvenir shop or from the bookstore in it.

The opportunity for the publishers to present their books to such a wide audience appears to be very attractive. Customers are willing to pay large sums for educational and popular science titles that will enrich their knowledge and will leave a memory of their visit to Athens. There can be seen luxurious editions with prices that exceed 40-50 euros. Such luxury books are hard to sell on the general market in bookstores throughout the country and it turns the museum shop in manna for local and foreign publishers.

The main problem according to the dissenters is that the Acropolis Museum always houses the books of three or four publishers, out of a total of 350 members of the Union of publishers.

"We believe that in the museum bookstore there is a tend to sell the works for several publishers in the country and they are constantly present on their shelves. Moreover, no explanation is given, about what are the criteria by which titles are approved or rejected and as a whole we believe that thre is no transparency in the evaluation process". This stated for GRReporter exclusively Dimitris Papadimas, who is a member of the board of directors of the Union of publishers and synthesized the problem for our readers.

In 2009 the Ministry of Culture appointed a three-member committee, which deals with the approval of the titles presented in the disputed bookstore. "We've never seen, this three-member committee" complain the publishers. According to Dimitris Papadimas the members of the Union of Publishers in Greece have been invited in the past year by the ministry to make a list and a specify a number of books that they consider to be appropriate. "We never met this Committee nor did we receive a positive or negative response to our suggestions. There is just no communication."

Members of the Union want to meet with the three-member committee, representatives of the museum and the Ministry of Culture, to clarify the issue of selection of titles and even if possible, every publisher in Greece to find a place on the shelves of the museum bookstore.

"We are not book market nor are we a hyper-bookstore with six floors but a museum, which provides a little space for books related to the archeology, Athens and Classical Greece, Attiki. I have a three-member committee that deals with the selection and it complies with the established criteria for the content. We can not include titles for all the antiquity or Greece." This is what the director of the Acropolis Museum Professor Dimitris Pandermalis said for GRReporter exclusively. He described the reaction of the publishers as exaggerated and even meaningless. If they are so unhappy with the selection procedure of books in the bookstore, we are always ready for a dialogue and there is no need to dramatize the situation with press releases, said the director.

Dimitris Pandermalis added that the museum can not accommodate all the books that the committee approves, but only those which believe that they need. This need is determined by the demand. "Visitors to the Acropolis Museum are serious people, customers who want certain types of books. We respond to demand and comply with it." About the publishers’ discontent and lack of feedback from the Committee for the selection of titles, the museum director said that there is not enough staff to keep constant communication between the museum and book publishers. He said he plans to meet the representatives of the Union of publishers to clarify the issues and to find a solution.

"There is an idea that the culture can be turned into trade. We in the Acropolis Museum say 'No' to such a thought. It is absolutely normal that when someone visits the museum he wants to buy something that is associated with what he saw in it. In this sense, the bookstore and the souvenir shop are not just retail outlets, but another part of the museum. Of these, of course, the museum has some revenues that are important to us, but they are not crucial ", said Dimitris Pandermalis.