Museum Collections Management

Author: Freda Matassa
Publisher: Facet Publishing
ISBN: 1856047016
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
This landmark publication is the first to draw together all aspects of museum collections management in one handbook. It is designed for anyone with responsibility for a cultural collection and covers everything a collections manager needs to know. It describes professional practice in managing cultural objects and works of art, whatever the size and nature of the collection. The book includes essential information on: Legal aspects of collections Ethical issues such as due diligence and immunity from seizure Up to date concerns such as sustainability, crossing borders and financial constraints Loans, acquisitions, inventory and movement. The book describes all collections management procedures in a simple step-by-step process and is clear and easy to use with all procedures based on international museum practice. Examples of real forms, policies and documents drawn from major museums are included throughout the text and act as guides for any transaction. Readership: Packed full of practical information, advice and good practice, this will be essential reading for all museum professionals, curators of private collections and museum studies students.

Collections Management

Author: Anne Fahy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134830521
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Book Description
An invaluable and practical introduction bringing together leading recent papers emphasising some of the major issues affecting collections management.

Things Great and Small

Author: John E. Simmons
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 9781442277441
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Book Description
This revised edition of Things Great and Small is a comprehensive resource for preparing and applying collections management policies. Simmons reviews current ideas and literature on the subject, highlights the issues that collections management policies should address, and explains the pros and cons of choosing some policy options over others.

Active Collections

Author: Elizabeth Wood
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351383515
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Book Description
In recent years, many museums have implemented sweeping changes in how they engage audiences. However, changes to the field’s approaches to collections stewardship have come much more slowly. Active Collections critically examines existing approaches to museum collections and explores practical, yet radical, ways that museums can better manage their collections to actively advance their missions. Approaching the question of modern museum collection stewardship from a position of "tough love," the authors argue that the museum field risks being constrained by rigid ways of thinking about objects. Examining the field’s relationship to objects, artifacts, and specimens, the volume explores the question of stewardship through the dissection of a broad range of issues, including questions of "quality over quantity," emotional attachment, dispassionate cataloging, and cognitive biases in curatorship. The essays look to insights from fields as diverse as forest management, library science, and the psychology of compulsive hoarding, to inform and innovate collection practices. Essay contributions come from both experienced museum professionals and scholars from disciplines as diverse as psychology, education, and history. The result is a critical exploration that makes the book essential reading for museum professionals, as well as those in training.

A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections

Author: Marie C. Malaro
Publisher: Smithsonian Books (DC)
ISBN:
Category : Museums
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Book Description
This work covers issues that bear on collection management and that may arise in relation to the acquisition and disposal of objects, loans, appraisals, tax considerations, insurance, and visitor and employee safety.

The Curation and Care of Museum Collections

Author: Bruce A Campbell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429958994
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
Museum curators enter the profession with a specialist subject qualification and yet at some point in their career, many curators find themselves in charge of a range of collections outside of their expert knowledge. Interpreting, curating and caring for mixed collections demands of curators a wide range of knowledge and understanding. The Curation and Care of Museum Collections is designed to give curators the fundamental information and confidence they need to manage and care for all of the collections within their responsibility, regardless of their previous training and experience. Comprising two sections – Museum Collections, and Collection Development and Care – the chapters cover archaeology, art, history, military and natural sciences collections, as well as heritage properties. Every chapter in the book is focused on one type of collection, but all chapters in the collection management section contain advice on topics such as organisational philosophy, documentation, legal issues and materials in order to provide a useful and comprehensive guide to managing collections. The collection care section is structured in the same way, considering the issues of storage; display; handling; moving; packing; housekeeping; health and safety; emergency preparedness; and pest, pollution, environmental, light and vibration management. The contributors to this book are experienced museum professionals, each with their own specialism and a deep understanding of what it means to work in the context of mixed collections. Providing a highly practical guide, The Curation and Care of Museum Collections is essential reading for curators working in all types of museums, galleries and heritage sites, and for students of museology courses around the world.

Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections

Author: Angela Kipp
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442263490
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 203

Book Description
Managing previously unmanaged collections can be challenging. The process of securing the collection and making it accessible needs the mindset of a collections manager as well as the one of a project manager. The target audience are museum professionals with a basic training in collections care that are confronted with collections that are either large in numbers (1000+ artifacts) or stored confusingly, or both. The book is a step-by-step guide how to approach this situation, assuming that there's nothing to start with but a collection that has to be accessioned and the person who is assigned to do it. It is about how to bring order into the chaos, to define what is needed in terms of time, money, staff and material, to spot facility issues and potential dangers, and to use the power of networking to solve an otherwise unsolvable task. Many chapters conclude with “logical exits,” the points at which the collection in a condition that allows you to leave it for the next curator to take over. A common issue is that time frames are often so tight that the target of having the collection in good shape at the end of a contract or at a fixed date can’t be met. Another common scenario may be that other projects become more important and you have to stop working on the collection, which might sound familiar to many directors of small museums. “Logical exits” are the points you can do this without risking that everything you’ve done so far or since the last “logical exit” was a waste of time. For contractors those “logical exits” might serve as orientation points when negotiating the work that has to be done on the collection.

Museum Registration Methods

Author: Rebecca A. Buck
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780838911228
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 516

Book Description
Rewritten, expanded and fully updated, MRM5 encompasses all that needs to be known and done when a museum accessions, measures, marks, moves, and displays or stores an object/artifact of any kind. MRM5 includes expert advice from more than 60 acknowledged leaders in their disciplines. New with the 5th edition are special teaching sections that challenge students and seasoned staff alike with questions about the process and procedures of accessioning and caring for objects.

Collections Management

Author: Anne Fahy
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134830513
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
Collections Management brings together leading papers exploring some of the major issues affecting collections management. Providing information about initiatives and issues for anyone involved in collections management, Fahy identifies the main issues relating to collecting and disposal of collections and discusses why museums should develop appropriate documentation systems. Examining the status of research within museums, the various sources of advice relating to security and addresses the basics of insurance and indemnity, Collections Management is an invaluable and very practical introduction to this topic for students of museum studies and museum professionals.

Collection Conundrums

Author: Rebecca A. Buck
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493082094
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 159

Book Description
Collection Conundrums: Solving Museum Registration Mysteries provides guidelines for investigating the oddities found in every museum collection - objects without record, identification or sometimes even a location - and determining what to do. Written by registrars Rebecca Buck and Jean A. Gilmore, editors of the best-selling The New Museum Registration Methods, this new volume contains essential information for museums large and small, new and old. The text offers solutions to the problems of old loans, undocumented objects found in collections, items lost in inventory, supplementary collections and more, as well as guidelines on how to keep problems from occurring in the first place. Features a history of registration methods and the standards for collection documentation and care, along with sample documents such as loan agreements, co-tenancy agreements, storage agreements and deed of gift. Recommended for everyone involved in collections planning and management.