Collections policy

A Collection Management Policy lays the foundation for how a museum handles situations pertaining to their collection. It can be defined as “a detailed written statement that explains why a museum is in operation and how it goes about its business. The policy articulates the museum’s professional standards regarding the objects left in its care and serves as a guide for the staff”. Since museums are often faced with questions that deal with what objects they should acquire, how to handle removing or loaning objects in the collection, or standards of care for objects; it is imperative to have a well-written policy that can help prevent possible issues on the museum’s end. Prevention is the best approach when dealing with operations and objects in the collection, therefore the policy is an important document that can be looked at almost like boundaries set in place to help insure that the museum stays true to its mission while also providing the best care for the collection.

When writing a policy, take the time to ensure that it covers any possible factors that might affect the museum collection, operations, or staff. It is important to note that not all museums are created equally and will therefore have their own unique situations to deal with. With this in mind one must also note that “collection management policies should be written to meet the needs of a specific museum, its collections, and the use of those collections”. To help insure that the written policy can be put to use the museum must be aware of current practices and standards to include. The policy should also be easy to follow while avoiding being overly complex. During the beginning stages of this process the museum and staff members should work together to develop procedures, review the policy and revise as necessary until the policy is complete. There is a lot to consider and quite a bit of work that goes into writing this type of policy, but as the American Alliance of Museums notes, “the process of creating and implementing a policy is far more important and beneficial to the museum than the actual policy itself. The policy may seem like the end result, but in actuality, the end result is a broad understanding of ethics and procedures, which influences how the museum operates”.

Although every museum is different, below are some of the common key factors a museum should include in their policy.

Seeing how almost every decision a museum makes is done with its mission statement in mind, it is important that it is included in the policy. A mission statement addresses the museum’s focus in terms of its purpose and its roles and responsibilities to the public and collections. This statement is what helps determine everything the museum does and should be referenced to on a regular bases to ensure that decisions are still in line with the museum’s original goal. Museum mission statements should adhere to the standards of the American Alliance of Museums.

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