Collections Management: A Handbook

Citation

Demb, S.R. and Teuteberg, S. (2012), "Collections Management: A Handbook", Records Management Journal, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 78-81. https://doi.org/10.1108/09565691211222180

Formerly Head of Collections Management at the Tate and now an independent consultant, Matassa has written a comprehensive and useful overview of museum and gallery collections management and its component activities (documentation, movement, storage, acquisitions, loans exhibitions and displays, and study/research access) within the context of legal, ethical, sustainability, security and economic considerations. This volume builds on Susanna Fairhouse's Collections Management: A Practical Guide, published by Collections Trust in 2009.

She points out early on that good collections management is based on robust information systems, whether they are analogue or digital or a hybrid of both. She also acknowledges that information is the foundation of object documentation, which is in turn the basis of collections management; and recognises the centrality of provenance information to the museum enterprise. The functions as described in the book are scalable; an important consideration across large and small, public and private museums in straightened times.

However, this book is not by or for records managers, although de facto it is aimed at records creators and keepers. Matassa does not acknowledge the role records management (whether by default or with systematic intent) has played in the maintenance of collections information and records over time. She cites the models of the ancient Alexandria museion and the Caesarian temples of Venus as our musty antecedents, but does not consider the reason we know they existed in the first place – records based on the oral histories of these institutions.

Instead the volume is an accessible introduction to the management of museum objects for a novice to the sector who needs a quick overview of collections management. In the first part she introduces underlying principles, such as ethical consideration and the legal framework in the UK. The second part comprises practical guidelines on the processes involved, such as acquisition, documentation, movement, and storage. This part of the book illustrates what collections management means in a museum or gallery context.

Although there are similarities between managing records and managing museum objects, this book shows that their emphases are very different. While the records manager tends to be mainly concerned with groups of materials, a museum collections manager looks after individual objects that are often exhibited or loaned. Much of the book is dedicated to the work pertaining to object moves, whether as part of an external loan or within the museum. Considering that the legal and funding circumstances of museums and galleries can vary, Matassa's book raises key concerns rather than providing answers for every possible scenario. It is therefore a good stepping stone for more in‐depth development of policies and procedures.

The natural focus on records and information creation precludes a discussion of the full range of management activities required to keep them active, accessible, preserved and secure over time, and also raises some troubling issues surrounding duplication and authenticity.

Matassa's professional specialism has allowed some half‐truths to slip in, although these will only be visible to those of us with a specialised interest in the history of records keeping ‐ such as her assertion that early museum card indices were based on library systems when in fact these were developed after Linneaeus' scientific taxonomy practices. In addition, she states that the National Museums and Galleries Act 1992 applies “to all museums which receive some government funding,” although this is a quibble (and she does point out that separate acts apply to local authority museums). The disappointing thing from a records management perspective is the lack of explicit recognition that documentation goes beyond what the museum sector means by the term (accession, movement, loan and conservation records) to encompass the broader museum records environment which often includes activities beyond the registrarial or collections manager's purview. Implicit in Matassa's handbook is the fact that exhibition, facilities, security and a host of other records relate to museum collection and come with ongoing management needs that must be addressed by the records management discipline.

Surprising in this day of easy internet access, Matassa's volume does not refer to the Information Commissioner's Office (and affords only a passing glance at The National Archives) as a resource for information on FOI and DPA, both of which come up within her discussion of ethical considerations. Along similar lines, while she is clear that her UK experience within art museums informs the book, her omission (“in general, museums in the USA are run along private lines …”) of the Smithsonian Institution's 16 museums and their game changing role in US repatriation initiatives in her discussion of disposals in America is surprising, as is the lack of a mention of the UK ICO's mandated Publication Scheme in the book's section about publication of policies (especially with respect to due diligence) on museum websites. It might also put things in perspective to note that the UK's Human Tissue Act 2004, discussed in a section on human remains, post dates the US's 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which put a huge amount of emphasis on documentation and provenance records, and which had a significant impact on European attitudes to human remains (both Native American and other nationalities') in European museums.

It is hard to balance the need for pithy straightforward advice with the complexities of the museum reality. Matassa's instruction that a “procedures manual should contain information on how to make copies of information, duplicate data, and back ups” creates more records conundrums than it solves. Why are these copies being made and where would these copies be held? Are the copies meant to protect originals from use or theft? What are the resulting storage implications, especially for smaller museums with limited resources?

Matassa's text also fails to define the provision of a “safe” storage space – does this mean limited and controlled‐monitored access and if so what are the information and records ramifications? Unless there is space for an entire run of accession file copies, it is normal and useful for accession files to be stored separately from the remainder of the institutional archive, so as to provide ready access to the authorised staff members who need daily access to the records. However, it is not always practical to hold all related information within the accession file; for example, where field notes or other correspondence are particularly voluminous, they can be stored within the archive and a cross‐reference form can be placed in the file to alert the user to the location (as discussed in Wythe, 2004).

Similarly, when related information is in electronic form, perhaps as a relational database, it is not practical to print it out and a cross reference should be used, either from the accession file or from the appropriate collections management systems (CMS) record/s. Readers, especially neophyte practitioners, would benefit from this type of detail.

In a second mention of keeping copies of accession records the implication is that this will protect the originals and recognises that they are in many respects permanently in use, but again, where and how is this practical in terms of storage space and copying time? There is also no mention of BS5454, the preservation standard for archives.

The discussion of catalogue production is also confusing. How is the catalogue different to the CMS? It is unclear if this refers to the more traditional publications of museum collections, and/or if it differs from an inventory if at item level; if nothing else, shouldn't the catalogue as described by Matassa be generated from the CMS (which contains the authoritative information and would thus result in better information management practice over all)? If so, then the discussion of taxonomies needs to be referenced in that section of the book.

On another practical note, the book reveals a rather staggeringly understated acknowledgement of the importance of image management when Matassa states in a throw away sentence that it is “easier [to locate objects] if its accession number or temporary number is included in the image.” It is important, if not critical, that strict and precise naming conventions for images and image files are agreed and used, particularly as the volume of digital images continues to increase exponentially. Museum image management outside (and perhaps even within) art museums tends to be a perennial weak spot, which demands coordinated information management efforts by records professionals and their picture library, curatorial and photographer colleagues.

The handbook is a good introduction to the information needs of museum collections managers. Considering that Matassa mentions records in almost every chapter, the lack of clarity on the issue shows that records management in museums is not yet fully understood. Even though robust records are crucial to collections management, records management is still not fully recognised as a formal discipline within the museums and galleries sector.