Post on 16-Jul-2015
Collections Trust Seminar
Brighton, December 2014
Wifi: BD&BF_public
Hashtag: #ctskills
Welcome & introductions!
I’m Nick Poole
CEO of the Collections Trust since 2004, involved in the development of national
standards & funding programmes for museums.
Getting started
• Please do:
• Be an active participant
• Ask questions
• Respect information shared in confidence
• Take the opportunity to network!
Resources
• In your delegate pack, you have:
• Copies of these slides
• Information sheets about today’s resources
• Information about further Collections Trust events
• A Feedback & Evaluation Form
• Today’s slides can be downloaded from www.slideshare.net/collectionstrust
• All other resources available from www.collectionstrust.org.uk
Objectives for today
• Our objectives are to:
• Introduce you to the work of the Collections Trust
• Explore how collections management supports the needs of audiences
• Introduce the Excellence in Collections Management model
• Highlight our tools, resources and services to support your work
• Please write down 2-3 things that you want to get out of today (we’ll refer back to these at the end of the day)
THE COLLECTIONS TRUST’S AND ITS PROGRAMMES AND
PRODUCTS
The Collections Trust is...
...the professional association for people who work in
Collections Management
Established 1977
• To promote the education of the public by the development of museums and similar organisations by all appropriate methods;
• To develop, promote, maintain and improve standards of collections and information management in museums, art galleries, heritage organisations and other collections institutions;
• To provide services and resources which improve the standards and methods of collections management and use.
Not-for-profit
ACE funding
Self-generated revenues
Project funding
Our work
• Publish and make available standards, reports and resources
• Run events and training
• Support digital development
• Represent the sector and influence policy makers
• Help you network and share knowledge
Our programmes
• We focus on issues that are relevant to Collections Management:
• Documentation
• Digital development
• Systems development (DAMS, CMS, Web, Mobile)
• Governance
• Security
• Insurance
• Pest Management
• Copyright & IPR
• Cultural property
• Participation & engagement
Special programmes
• Recently we have developed resources, guidelines, factsheets and interactivesaround a series of special programmes:
– Security www.collectionstrust.org.uk/security
– Energy efficiency www.collectionstrust.org.uk/energy-efficiency
– Pests! www.collectionstrust.org.uk/pest-management
– Insurance www.collectionstrust.org.uk/insurance
– Participation www.collectionstrust.org.uk/participation
– Going Digital www.collectionstrust.org.uk/going-digital
– Copyright & licensing www.collectionstrust.org.uk/copyright-and-licensing
Going Digital
• New three year ‘back to basics’ programme on IT in museums
• Covering:
– Basic IT audit and planning
– Photography and scanning
– Buying equipment
– Copyright
– Collections Management Systems
– Digital Asset Management Systems
– Sharing collections online
Going Digital
• Free tools and resources including:
– IT Audit toolkit
– Digital Strategy interactive
– Beginners Guide to Digitisation
– How-to copyright factsheets
• www.collectionstrust.org.uk/going-digital
Copyright and licensing
We provide free resources to help museums with copyright issues and we’re addressing how recent legal reforms to copyright affect museums.
• Free resources at www.collectionstrust.org.uk/copyright-and-licensing
• A Copyright Seminar with expert Naomi Korn (18 February 2015, London) www.collectionstrust.org.uk/copyright-seminar
• Copyright: A Practical Guide - updated edition available beginning of 2015
www.collectionstrust.org.uk/shop
Food and Drink Project
• Working with museums and creative organisations to:
– Digitise collections relating to food and drink
– Share digital records through online platforms (Culture Grid and Wikimedia)
– Develop commercial products: book and eBook; mobile app; social game;
exhibition; virtual exhibition
– Encourage collaboration between museums, the
commercial sector and creative industries
– Help museums find a new source of revenue!
• http://foodanddrinkeurope.eu/
The Collections Trust website
• Re-launched in July 2014
• Hundreds of practical, free resources
• The latest news from the sector
• Blog posts
• Online shop (forms and registers, publications, eBooks)
• Comprehensive listing of sector events www.collectionstrust.org.uk/upcoming-events
• Register to receive a fortnightly e-newsletter
Practical Guides
• Simple practical guides to key areas of Collections Management:
• Titles:
– Collections Management: A Practical Guide
– Documentation: A Practical Guide
– Copyright: A Practical Guide
– Governance & Collections: A Practical Guide
– Integrated Pest Management: A Practical Guide
• Available from www.collectionstrust.org.uk/shop
(RRP £24.99 and ebook £20.00)
Forms and registers
• Leading supplier of museum forms and registers
– Object Entry Forms
– Object Cards
– Exit Forms
– Simple Catalogue Cards
– Object Movement Tickets
– Transfer of Title Forms
– Accession Registers
• Available from www.collectionstrust.org.uk/shop
Keep in touch
• We offer several ways of keeping in touch with our work and with each other
– Collections Management LinkedIn community (8,200 members)
– Fortnightly email newsletter
– www.twitter.com/collectiontrust
– www.facebook.com/collectionstrust
– www.slideshare.net/collectionstrust
About today’s seminar
This seminar is intended to provide an overview of current best practice in
Collections Management
Structure for this seminar
• Session 1: Understanding the changing expectations of audiences
• Session 2: Introducing Excellence in Collections Management
• Session 3: Collections Standards and competencies
• Session 4: The relationship between your collection and your Mission
12.40 – 13.35 LUNCH
• Session 5: How collections can drive engagement
• Session 6: Developing Digital as part of your strategy
• Session 7: Collections Management and Museum Accreditation
• Session 8: Collections & Digital Asset Management
14.45 – 15.05 BEST PRACTICE CASE STUDY
15.15 WRAPUP & CONCLUSIONS
SESSION ONE
The changing needs and expectations of museum
audiences
Discussion
• How do you develop an understanding of the needs and expectations of your audience?
• Are ‘millennials’ your audience, or are you catering for a completely different set of expectations?
• How are the expectations and behaviours of your visitors changing?
A ‘responsive’ museum...
...is designed around the needs, expectations,
behaviours and abilities of your visitors
The ‘traditional’ museum...
Museums sometimes operate in silos
Education Management Collections Retail IT
The ‘responsive’ museum...
Visitor experience
Collections
Learning
Retail
Online
Visitor Services
Facilities
Social
Mobile
It’s about finding the fastest, simplest way of giving people meaningful, emotional experiences
Not about partitioning peoples lives, but about letting them express the kind of connection they want to make (including being left alone & not having to connect to anything!)
I am...
A mum
A teacher
A casual gamer
Cold
Bored
An expert
Discussion
• What can you do to engage different competencies/areas of interest across your museum and help them to understand what you do?
• Does the working culture and practice in your museum make everyone feel part of the development & use of the collection?
• How do your museum’s goals for engagement and income generation intersect with the development & use of the collection?
• Is the collection regarded as an asset or a liability?
SESSION TWO
Introducing the Excellence in Collections Management
model & resources
Key questions
• What does ‘excellence’ look like in managing and using a collection?
• How does this framework correspond to the minimum requirement of Accreditation?
• What are SPECTRUM and BSI PAS 197 and how can they support excellence?
LAW
STATUTE
ETHICAL CODES
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
GOVERNANCE
CORPORATE CULTURE
POLICIES & PROCEDURES
DAILY TASKS
LAW
STATUTE
ETHICAL CODES
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
GOVERNANCE
CORPORATE CULTURE
POLICIES & PROCEDURES
DAILY TASKS
MUSEUM
PROFESSIONAL
LEGAL
Museum development
MISSION
FORWARD PLAN
POLICIES
PLANNING
PROCEDURESSYSTEMS
COMPETENCIES
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Detailed Model
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
PLAN
DO
REVIEW
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
SKILLS & CPD
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
SKILLS & CPD
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
SKILLS & CPD
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
SKILLS & CPD
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
SKILLS & CPD
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
SKILLS & CPD
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
SKILLS & CPD
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
SKILLS & CPD
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
DO
SKILLS & CPD
Key points
• Good collections management is the foundation of great museum experiences
• Having a well-managed foundation promotes flexibility rather than constraining it
• Any kind of development – audience participation, income generation, brand development, outreach or digital – depends on having the basics of good collections practice in place
• Collections management drives both accountability and creativity
Key questions
• How does your museum review and improve its work?
• How could ‘plan’, ‘do’, ‘review’ be applied in your work?
• Do you already measure ‘performance’ – if so, how?
SESSION THREE
Collections Standards & competencies
Key topics
• The role of professional standards
• The Collections Trust Collections Standards Toolkit
• Collections Link standards resources
• Collections Management Competencies
• Structure & role of SPECTRUM
LAW
STATUTE
ETHICAL CODES
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
GOVERNANCE
CORPORATE CULTURE
POLICIES & PROCEDURES
DAILY TASKS
MUSEUM
PROFESSIONAL
LEGAL
Legal frameworks
• Museums & Libraries Act
• Equalities Act
• Charities Act
• Cultural Property Law
• Copyright Law
• Civil rights & protections
Codes of Ethics
• MA Code of Ethics for Museums
• ICOM Code of Ethics
• Ethical principles associated with Charitable Status
Professional Standards
• Museums Accreditation Scheme
• SPECTRUM Standard
• BSI Publicly Available Specification 197 Code of Practice for Collections Management
• BSI Publicly Available Specification 198 Environmental Management
• GIS Guidelines
Standards Toolkit
• Produced by Collections Trust with support from Arts Council England
• http://www.collectionstrust.org.uk/standards-toolkit/introduction
• Structured around four sections:
– Collections Development standards
– Collections Information standards
– Collections Access standards
– Collections Care & Conservation standards
Introducing SPECTRUM!
International industry standard for Collections
Management
SPECTRUM Facts & Figures
• 23,000 licensed users
• 40 countries
• 8 languages
• 17 SPECTRUM Partner systems
• Adoption as a national quality standard in 4 countries
• Interest from 5 new territories
STANDARD
WORLDWIDE COMMUNITY (25,000)
COMPLIANCE(17)
GUIDANCEPDF/XML/PRINT
+ SCHEMA
NEW IDEAS
Uses of SPECTRUM
• Not a mandatory standard
• A ‘recipe book’ for developing or reviewing practices in your museum
• Useful for the development of your Procedural Manual
• Promotes accountability & good practice
• Primary procedures are a requirement of Accreditation
Collections Management Competency Framework
Defining the skills and competencies of the
professional & volunteer collections management
workforce
Competency Framework
Why a Competency Framework?
• Informing the teaching and training of core collections management skills and competencies
• Promoting investment in CPD
• Raising awareness of the value and impact of CM skills on the wider delivery of museum services
• Advocating for investment in CM competencies
• Providing a structure to engage with other industry partners eg. CC Skills, MA, CILIP
Professional development
• Ensuring that museums have access to the Collections Management skills & competencies they need:
– Teaching on University Museum Studies courses
– Providing a Competency Framework for employers
– Delivering a Collections Management Traineeships programme
– Promoting practical apprenticeships
– Free Collections Trust Seminars across England
Traineeships programme
• Runs between October 2014 & September 2015
• Cohort of 20 trainees
• Combination of practical workplace-based training, CPD, mentoring and peer support
• Aimed at enabling new entrants to the profession to build their collections management skills and confidence
• www.collectionstrust.org.uk/traineeships
SESSION FOUR
Mission, Brand and Metrics
What kind of
museum
professional are
you?
Objects Experiences
Facts Stories
Objects Experiences
Facts Narratives
“Our first duties are to collect, conserve and display material culture, to protect the nation’s treasures and to showcase the high points of human creativity”
Objects Experiences
Facts Stories
“Our first duty is to create an open, welcoming environment in which people can come and enjoy the experience of beautiful, inspiring things”
Objects Experiences
Facts Stories
“It is not the objects themselves, but the connections between them and the stories they can tell. Our duty is to weave stories and objects together to help people understand the world around them”
Objects Experiences
Facts Narratives
“Our first duty is to provide an authoritative record of the development of the natural and man-made world. We must collect and preserve type specimens and objects based on our authoritative and scientific knowledge.”
Objects Experiences
Facts Stories
Mission
• Mission matters more than people think!
• Two commons types of museum Mission Statement
– “We are going to change the world,” or
– “We will collect and preserve the history and heritage of [insert name of town] and interpret it for the benefit of the public to support education”
• It doesn’t really matter what the words are. It matters whether you believe them, whether they inspire you and whether you are proud to say it out loud
Brand
• Your museum’s ‘brand’ is the expression of who you are, what you care about, how your museum feels about itself and the relationship you want to have with your audience
• The brand of your museum is what people identify with, volunteer to be part of, have in their mind when planning a visit
• Every member of staff should be a champion for the brand – if its controlled through the marketing team, you’ll never achieve reach and scale
• What is your museum’s brand proposition?
Culture
• Your museum’s working culture will get you through times of no strategy (or money) better than a strategy will get you through times of no culture
• How well does the way your museum looks to the outside world reflect your culture?
• Different types of museum culture:
– Evangelist
– Protectionist
– Progressive
– Bruised
– Feudal
– Collegiate
Culture change
• Unfreeze/disrupt the existing culture
• Introduce new ideas about how things ought to be done
• Systematically apply the new paradigm/way of working
• Re-freeze the new organisational culture*
* Repeat as required every 5-10 years...
Culture change
Performance culture
Create a climate for
change
Engage staff
Train & reward
Keep track
Create a ‘team’
mentality
Lead by example
Metrics
• How do you measure the value and impact of what you do?
• What kind of ‘value culture’ do you have?
– None
– Count what we can count
– Visitor numbers
– Measure visitor impact
– Measure performance
– Numbers for advocacy
– Planning with data
• Do you use your numbers for internal (planning) use or external advocacy?
Key points
• Museums need to be able to respond and adapt to the changing needs and expectations of audiences
• Collections management has a fundamental role to play in supporting managed and positive change in your museum
• The more proactively you can position collections management as an enabler of growth, audience development and sustainability, the more central and valuable it (and you!) become to your museum
• Not about front of house vs. back of house, conservation vs. use – it’s about positive, managed change
SESSION FIVE
Understanding the ‘user journey’ and collections
VIDEO: How to uncross a Directors arms
Crowds & buzz!
How can collections management help deliver crowds and buzz for your
Director?
The ‘user journey’...
...describes how people discover your museum, what they do while they’re there and how you maintain the
connection after they leave.
Pre-visit (discovery)
Visit (engagement)
Post-visit (relationship)
The key challenge for collections is to find ways of enhancing and extending the user journey so that people are:
• More likely to discover the museum
• More likely to engage with the museum
• More likely to develop a lasting relationship with the museum
Pre-visit (discovery)
Visit (engagement)
Post-visit (relationship)
‘Snackable’ content – quick, shareable, interesting, quirky & fun, shared as widely as
possible with as many people as possible
Pre-visit (discovery)
Visit (engagement)
Post-visit (relationship)
‘Snackable’ content – quick, shareable, interesting, quirky & fun, shared as widely as
possible with as many people as possible
Location-specific (iBeacon!) content that is relevant – enabling people to
explore, discover, socialise and promote to their networks
Pre-visit (discovery)
Visit (engagement)
Post-visit (relationship)
‘Snackable’ content – quick, shareable, interesting, quirky & fun, shared as widely as
possible with as many people as possible
Location-specific (iBeacon!) content that is relevant – enabling people to
explore, discover, socialise and promote to their networks
Deep, relevant, personal and engaging stories, targeted
events and experiences, fresh ideas and offers
Key questions
• Does your museum have profiles or personas for your key audience segments?
• How can collections support, enhance and extend the user journey?
• Is there more collections and audience development people could be doing to share insight?
SESSION SIX
Developing a ‘Digital Strategy’
Key questions
• How is your museum using technology to engage audiences?
• Do you have a Digital Strategy?
• How do you plan for the implementation of IT/digital in your museum?
• What is the role of the collection in your strategy?
Digital Design Principles
• Start with needs*
• Do less
• Design with data
• Do the hard work to make it simple
• Iterate. Then iterate again
• Build for inclusion
• Understand context
• Build digital services, not websites
• Be consistent, not uniform
• Make things open – it makes things better
• www.gov.uk/design-principles
(* Other people’s needs, that is...)
Tate Digital Strategy
• Implicitly linked to the Strategic Plan
• ‘Digital as a Dimension of Everything’
• Aligning the development of:
• Content
• IT infrastructure
• Social media
• Publishing & distribution
• Retail & income generation
HRP Strategic Planning
• No separate ‘Digital Strategy’
• 4 principles:
• Guardianship
• Discovery
• Showmanship
• Independence
• Digital underpins and supports the achievement of these principles, rather than acting as a standalone priority
HRP Strategic Planning
VISITOR JOURNEY
7 ‘personas’
ANALYTICS & CUSTOMER DATA ASSET MANAGEMENT
IT INFRASTRUCTURE
CHANGE PROGRAMME
Digital Benchmarks
• A simple diagnostic tool
• Mapping progress
• Celebrating success
• Planning development
• An integrated approach
Digital Benchmark “Range Statements”
StrategyLevel Description0 The organisation has no strategic plan or statement of mission or purpose *1 The organisation has a strategic plan or mission which does not reference engagement
through technology2 The organisation has a strategic plan, which includes projects and programmes, some of
which make use of technology. Digital is not fully integrated into the strategy, which is not regularly reviewed.
3 The organisation has a strategic plan, which includes projects and programmes, some of which make use of technology.
Digital is integrated into the strategy, which is regularly reviewed. 4 The organisation has a strategic plan/mission in place which references the use of digital
technologies to support core delivery, or it has a separate (but connected) digital strategy in place.
There is at least one digital champion within the senior management of the organisation. The strategic plan is regularly reviewed and updated.
5 The organisation has a strategic plan/mission in place which integrates the use of digital technologies to support core delivery.
The digital elements of the plan are owned and championed at a senior (Board & management) level and supported by appropriate budgets.
Digital technologies are embedded across all teams/departments of the organisation. Digital delivery and engagement through technology are embedded within the
organisation’s performance framework. The strategic plan is regularly reviewed and updated.
Mid-sized regional museum
0
1
2
3
4
5
STRATEGY
PEOPLE
SYSTEMS
DIGITISATION
CONTENT DELIVERY
ANALYTICS
ENGAGEMENT
REVENUE
Smaller museum
0
1
2
3
4
5
STRATEGY
PEOPLE
SYSTEMS
DIGITISATION
CONTENT DELIVERY
ANALYTICS
ENGAGEMENT
REVENUE
Showing progress
0
1
2
3
4
5
STRATEGY
PEOPLE
SYSTEMS
DIGITISATION
CONTENT DELIVERY
ANALYTICS
ENGAGEMENT
REVENUE
2012
2011
Content-based marketing
• From ‘sales’ to ‘add value’
• People are drawn to platforms and content which add value for them in their daily lives
• 3 connected strategies:
– ‘Snackable’ content
– Content-as-a-service (to support visits, education & engagement)
– ‘Vertical’ or niche content
Collections online
• Having things online does not automatically lead to access
• It is a significant investment of time and effort
• The 90/8/2 rule:
– 90% of your content acts as marketing for the museum
– 8% might make money if you invested heavily in it
– 2% of most collections will be a solid, bankable revenue stream
What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
METADATA
A BIT A LOT
CONTENT
METADATA
A BIT A LOT
FUN
What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
METADATA
A BIT A LOT
FUN
RESEARCH
What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
METADATA
A BIT A LOT
FUN
RESEARCH
LEARNINGOUTREACH
What people want from online collections…
119
CONTENT
METADATA
A BIT A LOT
FUN
RESEARCH
LEARNING
DATA MINING
COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT
AGGREGATION
OUTREACH
What people want from online collections…
120
CONTENT
METADATA
A BIT A LOT
FUN
RESEARCH
LEARNING
DATA MINING
COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT
AGGREGATION
OUTREACH
Digitize relatively few things & spend your money on quality and context
What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
METADATA
A BIT A LOT
FUN
RESEARCH
LEARNING
DATA MINING
COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT
AGGREGATION
OUTREACH
Digitize relatively few things & spend your money on quality and context
Digitize lots of things, use standards and don’t worry too much about promotion
What people want from online collections…
Defining terms: reuse
• Describes a wide spectrum of activities and applications of digital cultural content undertaken by 3rd parties
Degrees of ‘open’
• Attitudes and approaches to ‘open’ reuse of museum content exist along a sliding scale:
‘Radically’ open
Fully commercial
Degrees of ‘open’
• Attitudes and approaches to ‘open’ reuse of museum content exist along a sliding scale:
‘Radically’ open
Fully commercial
Toe in the water
Degrees of ‘open’
• Attitudes and approaches to ‘open’ reuse of museum content exist along a sliding scale:
‘Radically’ open
Fully commercial
Toe in the water
Mission driven
Degrees of ‘open’
• Attitudes and approaches to ‘open’ reuse of museum content exist along a sliding scale:
‘Radically’ open
Fully commercial
Toe in the water
Mission driven
Steady state
Degrees of ‘open’
• Attitudes and approaches to ‘open’ reuse of museum content exist along a sliding scale:
‘Radically’ open
Fully commercial
Thinking about it
Toe in the water
Mission driven
Steady state
Perceived benefits of open
• Perceived benefits for the museum include:
– Improved public awareness of content (PR, reputation & brand equity)
– Improved discoverability of content (re-use & promotional value)
– Improved opportunities for audience participation (audience development)
– Secondary improvements in quality of content (internal use value)
• The jury’s still out – compelling evidence of significantly higher traffic through eg. Wikipedia, but we tend to lack the metrics to assess impact of referrals on core business
Perceived benefits of open
• Perceived broader/societal benefits include:
– Stimulating innovation & creativity (economic value)
– Increased educational use (delivering on mission)
– Increased use for research/scholarship (utility & economic value)
– Inter-cultural dialogue and understanding (utility value)
• Quantification of these wider benefits tends to attribute to intermediary/3rd-party platforms, hence not always acknowledged in calculus of ROI
Practical steps to ‘going open’
1. Define your terms/read around the subject
2. Identify a suitable collection or sub-collection
3. Choose an appropriate license for your aims
4. Prepare your data for sharing
5. Write a blog
6. Add your data to an online repository
7. Track and evaluate impact
8. Share good news with colleagues/management
www.p2pu.org/he/groups/open-glam
The investment gap
• There is a critical lack of investment in content generation, staff capacity, infrastructure, enrichment, delivery platforms, marketing and promotion and organisational development to support income generation
• An increasing number of museums are adopting an ‘open by default’ strategy because they lack the capacity effectively to monetise the digital content
• Lack of cost-recovery results in declining reinvestment in further activity
• A lack of clear and coherent policy results in a culture of case-by-case decision-making, inconsistency and a lack of clarity about the business case for reinvestment
Learning to COPE
Developing practical steps to ensure that your collections
and systems are fit-for-purpose to support your
museum
The future of Documentation?
‘Create Once, Publish Everywhere’
• If collections and collections-based information are to play their part in enhancing and extending the visitor experience, they need to be discoverable and usable outside the museum and its website
• ‘COPE’ is the Collections Trust’s strategy for developing collections information and collections-related content that supports:
• Collections care
• Collections discovery & re-use
• Learning and intepretation
• Visitor engagement
COPE in practice, from this...
COLLECTIONSDOCUMENTATION
DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION / RECORDS
SYSTEMS OF RECORD
SYSTEMS OF ENGAGEMENT
USER CHANNELS & PLATFORMSBYOD
Museum
website
Gallery
interactives
Social
mediaAggregators
To this...
Collections Content &
systems
Mobile
Social
Website
OnsiteBYOD
Wearable
Something new!
Additional resources
• Collections Trust Digital Benchmarks Toolhttp://www.collectionstrust.org.uk/digital/digital-benchmarks-for-the-culture-sector
• Going Digital resources, toolkits, simple guides and glossary:http://www.collectionstrust.org.uk/going-digital
• Guidance on developing digital strategieshttp://www.collectionstrust.org.uk/digital-strategy
• Free Simple Guide to Digitisationhttp://www.collectionstrust.org.uk/digitisation
SESSION SEVEN
Collections Management and Museum Accreditation
Guiding principle
Collections are central to the function of a museum.
The management of the collections within an Accredited museum is consistent with the statement of purpose, policies and strategic vision for the organisation.
To do this effectively, and to allow for regular review and improvement, a coherent set of policy statements, plans and procedures should be put in place – a collections management framework.
This will address collections development, information, access, care and conservation.
Accreditation Requirements
• 2.1 Satisfactory arrangements for ownership of collections
• 2.2 Collections Development
• 2.3 Documentation policy
• 2.4 Care & conservation policy
• 2.5 Documentation plan
• 2.6 Care & conservation plan
• 2.7 Documentation procedures
• 2.7 Expert assessment of security arrangements
‘Primary’ procedures
Requirement 2.7: “The primary SPECTRUM procedures must be in place in the form of a documentation procedural manual that is available for inspection on request.”
• Object entry
• Acquisition
• Location and movement control
• Marking and/or labelling
• Cataloguing
• Object exit
• Loans in
• Loans out
Accreditation support
We can
• Publish standards and guidelines
• Share case studies
• Work with partner museums in the regions
• Share questions & answers with our networks
• Provide statements of support
We can’t
• Answer questions directly over the phone or by email
SESSION EIGHT
Developing effective collections management
systems
Key topics
• What is a ‘Collections Management System’?
• How to develop effective systems for Collections & Digital Asset Management
• Integration with other systems
‘Choose a CMS’ database
http://www.collectionstrust.org.uk/choose-a-cms
Digital Asset Management
• Launched SPECTRUM DAM in 2013
• Providing guidance on how to manage photographs, scans and recordings alongside the collection
• Launched SPECTRUM DAM Partners Scheme in 2014, validating software providers who can demonstrate they work with collections systems
• Free guide ‘How to Buy a Digital Asset Management System for your Museum’
• http://www.collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/spectrum-digital-asset-management
BEST PRACTICE CASE STUDY
Wrap up & conclusions
• Great collections management is at the heart of every successful museum
• You can help your museum be more resilient and adapt to the current and future needs and expectations of visitors
• Collections management can help make your museum more sustainable, both by finding opportunities to reduce costs and opening up primary income and secondary revenue through audience engagement
• We need to provide evidence of the value and impact of collections management to secure reinvestment
Keep in touch
• We offer several ways of keeping in touch with our work and with each other
– Collections Management LinkedIn community (8,200 members)
– Fortnightly email newsletter
– www.twitter.com/collectiontrust
– www.facebook.com/collectionstrust
– www.slideshare.net/collectionstrust