Collections at the Heart: Documentation Programme
Collections are the heart of museums, they define what makes a museum and enable museums to do the work they do. Yet most museums, whatever their size or type, have a documentation backlog and don’t have full collections information easily accessible to them. The majority of museums in the North of England that submitted an Accreditation return in the last three years have an Area for Development around holding useful and useable information on collections and following the primary Spectrum documentation procedures – usually a sizeable task in addressing their documentation backlog.
Many museums are currently considering how robust their internal collections management processes and procedures are in the face of local government reorganisations, major stores moves or other large-scale changes to the way in which their museum, and collections, are governed and operated. Documentation policies and procedures can underpin the work you want to achieve through your forward plan and support your strategic aims. Museums have undergone a seismic shift since the pandemic to become more accessible and inclusive. In trying to work with new audiences, to open up your collections and tell new stories, do you know if you already have the basics in place to be able to carry out this work to its full potential?
Collections Trust and MD North deliver a full programme covering the primary Spectrum procedures. This includes a series of online national briefings and more in-depth sessions on a range of topics.
National briefings
Throughout the year Collections Trust will be hosting a rolling programme of short introductory (one hour long) online national briefings on the main primary Spectrum procedures. These are introductions to each procedure, suitable for beginners or those in need of a refresher who want to learn more about how the Spectrum primary procedures underpin collections work and contribute towards meeting the Accreditation Standard. Topics include:
- Introduction to Spectrum
- Object entry
- Acquisition and accessioning
- Location and movement control
- Inventory and documentation planning
- Cataloguing
- Loans and object exit
The programme will launch with a Documentation in Practice Symposium on 23 April and details of the April to June briefings can be found here.
North regional workshops
Collections Trust and Museum Development North are also running 2-hour online workshops for a more in-depth look at some of the procedures not covered in the national sessions.
These longer workshops are for staff and volunteers from museums in the North of England which are Accredited or formally working towards Accreditation and who directly work with collections and documentation in their day-to-day role or who manage the staff and volunteers that do. Priority will be given to those not regularly funded by Arts Council England or central government. If there are more than two delegates from a single museum booked on a workshop we reserve the right to amend delegate lists to allow museums from the waiting list to participate.
The first 2 sessions are now open for bookings: