Reviewing Collections

Why the need for a collections review?

• Why do you want to review your collection

• What do you want to review

What do you want to review?• Set your objectives - you need a clear idea to define the priorities of the review and the purpose

• Define your groupings – at what level and to what detail, sub-collection level or object by object. What levels of documentation do we need to know

• Define categories – what do you want to know, what criteria are essential to a collection – education, storage issues? Should you treat each type of collection the same?

Case studies?

UCL Collections Review

Introduction• There is a need to regularly review collections and infrastructure to ensure that the

agreed purpose of the museums and collections can be supported sustainably within an institution or organisation.

• UCL Museums & Collections have developed a model to assess their collections and how to care for and use them. The Collections Review covered all aspects of the physical care and intellectual value of the nearly 380 thousand objects in the collections within a single, all-encompassing review.

• By considering both these elements it was possible to determine exactly how the collections are used in day-to-day teaching and research and simultaneously assessed strengths and weaknesses. This will enable collections to prioritise and highlight areas where work is needed, and enable UCL Museums & Collections to realise their full potential.

Establish Aims &

Objectives

Establish Aims &

Objectives

Consultation: Aspects to

Review

Consultation: Aspects to

Review

Research and Construct

Methodology

Research and Construct

Methodology

Pilot Project

Pilot Project

Consultation: Appropriate

method?

Consultation: Appropriate

method?

Analyze and incorporate

feedback

Analyze and incorporate

feedback

Data Gathering

Data Gathering

Write

reports

Write

reports

Produce an executive summary

Produce an executive summary

Consultation: Style and use

of reports

Consultation: Style and use

of reports

Integrate findings into

strategic plans

Integrate findings into

strategic plans

Data calibration,

formatting and analysis

Data calibration,

formatting and analysis

Collections Review Flow Chart

Overall Aims• To provide a benchmark with which UCL Museums & Collections can work

against, providing a practical framework for measuring future progress.• To ensure that UCL has the collections it requires in order to fulfill its short

and long-term strategic objectives• To develop an overarching acquisition and disposal policy for UCL Museums

& Collections, and review policies for individual museums and collections • To develop a methodology for assessment, disposal and renewal that could

be adopted by other universities and museums• To dispose of those collections UCL no longer requires openly and

responsibly, in a manner which clearly serves the strategic aims and overall mission of UCL and its museums and collections

• To provide a benchmark with which UCL Museums & Collections can work against• To ensure that UCL has the collections it requires in order to fulfill its short and long-term

strategic objectives• To develop an overarching acquisition and disposal policy for UCL Museums & Collections, and

review policies for individual museums and collections Identify all collections material held by UCL and the type and extent of the collections. How many objects do we hold? What are the highlights? Identify any other collections held at UCL not currently part of UCL Museums & Collections.

• Identify the number and location of stores, on-site and off-site. What is the condition and security of stores? How much material is on display, how much in storage?

• Identify current curatorial activity and standards, for example, collections management. What is the extent of any documentation backlogs? What condition are our collections in?

• Analyse and identify general conclusions about current provision, for example, support for teaching & research, public access and engagement.

Collections Aims

Collections Aims (contd.)• What do we use for teaching and research? Do we need to integrate more fully into UCL as a

resource and service? Do we have the potential in our collections to do this? • To generate better/greater use of the stored collections • Provide a framework for the individual collections to benchmark themselves for future

development and identify future needs.• To develop a new standards framework with regard to forward planning, teaching & research,

documentation, storage provision, collections care, conservation and disaster planning.• To produce a rigorous Acquisition & Disposal policy for each collection and develop a

methodology for assessment, acquisition, disposal and renewal.• To develop a methodology for assessment, disposal and renewal that could be adopted by

other universities and museums• To dispose of those collections UCL no longer requires openly and responsibly, in a manner

which clearly serves the strategic aims and overall mission of UCL and its museums and collections

Began by undertaking research into museum standards and looking at case studies of museums that have attempted such a project before. We wanted;• an objective grading system so that comparisons can be made between different collections, and that improvements and priorities for improvements are easily highlighted.• a system that is comparatively easy to establish and maintain. Annual checks will only need to note any changes, not go through the whole assessment procedure again• outcomes to be presented as statistics accompanied by a summary of conclusions and recommendations. This will provide useful information about the collection as a whole, which can then be used to make decisions about priorities for collections management. For example, we can generate a list of collections ‘hot spots’ and focus our limited resources on areas of the collection that need immediate attention.

Where did we start?

• To fulfil a number of requirements, the Review needed to identify levels of collections care, storage security and management, teaching and research use, documentation and, access and ownership. Current standards where consulted to provide a basis for the review to work on. These included;

• Standards for Collections Care series, originally published by the Museums & Galleries Commission (MGC), now the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). Written by experts in the conservation and care of different types of collection, there are eight standards in the series. Some of the standards have been updated and can be found on collectionslink.org.uk

• Benchmarks in Collection Care, originally published by Re:source, is a self-assessment checklist to help you identify how well you are caring for your collections and give an indication of where and what improvements might be needed. The checklist can be found on collectionslink.org.uk

Standards in collections care

• The Collections Trust (formerly MDA) which provides information on documentation and information management for museums. A registered charity, funded by a grant from the MLA to provide advice, support and guidance to museum professionals to help them achieve national standards in the management of their collections. Also responsible for maintaining SPECTRUM, the UK and international standard for Collections Management. SPECTRUM is embedded in the Accreditation Scheme as part of its minimum documentation requirement for UK museums.

• The Museum Accreditation Scheme is the national minimum standard scheme for museums administrated by the MLA. Developed from the Registration Scheme , established in 1988, it sets out a clear benchmark for the delivery of museum services ensuring a minimum standard. The Scheme is administered in England by the MLA and by the Northern Ireland Museums Council, Scottish Museums Council and CyMAL in the Home Nations.

Standards in collections care

• Many of the case studies and standards focus heavily on collections care but we wanted something that looked at the value and significance of the collections too. We wanted to know more about our collections.

• A methodology was developed with consultation from external and internal workshops. This comprised of a rubric with which collections were to be reviewed and scored A to E in accordance with the standard grading where possible, for example, SPECTRUM for documentation.

• The rubric was divided into two parts,1) looked at collections care and management, 2) looked at the value and significance of the collection

• Wanted to reduce bias that may be seen in a yes/no questionnaire, or open answers.

The methodology

• Caring for and conserving a collection is one of the most important roles of a museum, archive or library. According to the Museums Association, good collections care ensures, 'that objects in a collection are stored, displayed and handled in a way that promotes preservation

• Many museums now incorporate condition surveys as a normal part of their conservation planning. They help to inform both preventive and remedial conservation needs and are often used as part of preparing a bid for funding of collections care projects.

• Condition - wanted to identify an overall assessment • Storage – closely related to condition, we wanted to look at what percentage of

space is meeting appropriate standards for collection storage and display. Looked at both buildings space and the immediate housing of the objects.

• Documentation – wanted an overall view of the documentation levels and to identify backlogs.

Collection Care & Management

The material held at UCL has mostly been acquired through teaching and research. Being primarily a reference collection, there justification lies in their value and use as sources of knowledge. The value of collections may be usefully divided into five broad categories: •1. Teaching & Research value •2. Cultural value, especially the influence of collecting and collections on the development of society and on science , on specific individuals, and on local and national history; for example, some collections may have little scientific value, but could have significant associations with people and places, in the case of this review we focus on the relationship with UCL.•3. Financial value, where the activity of private collectors and the public in general has raised the perceived and actual value of Objects. •4. Educational value in lifelong learning where collections are used as a learning resource either to instruct, inform or inspire. •5. Entertainment value where the aesthetic beauty of some objects is appreciated by the viewer.

Collection Value & Significance

• A pilot project was undertaken on the Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy to test the methodology for a review of UCL Museums & Collections.

• Each collection was divided into discrete subsets , Review Units, and then evaluated using the rubric. The scale of the Review Unit was an important consideration since it will determine the ability of the process to discriminate between levels on the rubric. For example, the smaller the unit the greater the resolution and the more meaningful the resulting data.

• All the zoology sub-collections were looked at. But these sub-collections were in a sense, ‘virtual’ collections and physically assessing them as units was not possible. It was decided that the individual shelf, drawer, tank, slide drawer, display case would become our Review Unit.

• For this reason it was decided that the survey be carried out store by store, cupboard by cupboard or drawer by drawer. It is quicker to break down a large store into many Review Units and results in sufficiently detailed data for assessment.

Pilot Study

The Grant Museum

A Review Unit can be a drawer, a shelf, or a single object

Storage Room Security: C

Normal Location

Normal Location Room

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Darwin building Basement Store Top Shelf 1 9 E D C D B E D C E E2 C B Darwin building Basement Store Shelf 1 7 E C C C D E D C D E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Shelf 2 19 E D C C C E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Shelf 3 967 E C D E E E D C D E2 C B Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 1 84 C C D B B E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 2 38 C C D B B E D C E E2 C B Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 3 71 C C D B B E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 4 19 C C D B B E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 5 95 C C D C B E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 6 72 C C D B B E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 7 39 C C C C B E D C E E2 C B Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 8 44 C C D C B E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Top Shelf 2 3 E D C C B E D C E E2 C B Darwin building Basement Store Shelf 4 5 E D B E D E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Shelf 5 10 E D C B B E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Shelf 6 10 E D C B B A D C E E2 C B Darwin building Basement Store Shelf 7 6 E D C B B A D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 9 20 C C A A B A D C E E2 C B Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 10 34 C C B A B A D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 11 31 C C B A B A D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 12 14 C C B A B A D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 13 44 C C B B B A D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 14 8 C C A A B A D C E E2 C B Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 15 12 C C C C C A D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Drawer 16 12 C C B A C A D C E E2 C B Darwin building Basement Store Top Shelf 3 11 E D C B C E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Shelf 8 3 E D B E E E D C E E2 C B

Darwin building Basement Store Shelf 9 14 E D C B B A D C E E2 C B

Example of a completed Review datasheet

Example of a completed and formatted Review datasheet

Disadvantages

• An important aspect that came out of the testing was the need for specialist knowledge of a collection (not necessarily always a subject specialist) and for observational issues such as condition and housing survey and input from the curator for documentation issues. For this reason the review was carried out by the dedicated staff with assistance and input from the curators. The audit and review process can not realistically be undertaken by volunteers.

• For each Review category, the collections management survey was based on the lowest score of any object stored in that unit. Typically this lowered the unit score. Some curators initially found this to be a negative but the end result was that problem areas are accentuated rather than hidden.

Advantages

• Quick to complete• If make time to do the exercise, a large amount of work can be done in a day • One of the major outcomes from the pilot was a compete count of every object in

the collection, something never attained before! For example, we now have a figure of over 350 thousand specimens held at UCL.

• Highlights the collections ‘hot spots’. Small problems can be worked on to create big improvements rather than taking on big projects which are often underestimated and can be never completed will be invaluable tool for collection management, strategic planning and fund raising.

• Latest documentation projects were also graded in the Zoology Collection, many of which where graded highly. A positive outcome that showed the benefit of these funded projects and how it has improved those areas of the collection.

• The Review (data collection) officially started at the beginning of October 2007 and is now complete.

• Data has been converted for analysis and reporting outcomes and process of writing up conclusions has begun.

• Conclusions and agreed outcomes/action plans are to be completed by July 2009

• Action plans to be built into strategic plans for 2009/2010 with annual updates on developments

• Acquisition & Disposal policies completed end 2008 with a view to be renewed in spring 2010

• Begin process of identifying objects for disposal and commencing consultation with UCL and wider audiences

Next Steps

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/review/