Only a fraction of objects in public collections regularly see the light of day. Some are on public display, on loan or used in teaching and handling collections.
But the vast majority are packed away in storage, whether that’s in a museum or in an off-site satellite store.
Although the exact percentage of public collections in storage isn’t known, it is often quoted as being as high as 95%.
This raises a number of issues, not least that of public access. The Open Museum, which is based at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, has pioneered public access to stored collections for many years, and a number of other organisations across the UK now offer behind-the-scenes tours or have open stores that can be visited by researchers as well as members of the public.
But the number of visitors to storage sites is believed to be relatively low. According to Collections for People, a 2008 survey of museums in England and Wales carried out by University College London (UCL), the number of visitors or users to stored collections ranged from zero to 14,000 a year.
Newspaper headlines regularly question why such a high proportion of collections are not on public display. These are often followed up with calls for museums to sell unseen collections in order to raise money to offset public funding cuts.
The cost of storing collections can also be controversial.
In 2011, a report by the BBC found that some nationals were spending more than £500,000 a year renting external storage space to supplement existing storage facilities.
As many collections continue to grow, the cost of storage is becoming ever more important.
Consultant Rachel Edwards’s report for the Society of Museum Archaeology revealed in 2012 that a lack of storage space meant many local authorities were unable to collect archaeological archives.
Early planning
These challenges mean that museums are increasingly looking for new ways to store their collections – from providing public access and redeveloping stores to make the most of the space available, to considering more unusual options such as deep storage.
Alan Percy, the general sales manager for Brunzeel Storage Solutions, says the museums he works with are increasingly looking to develop centralised storage facilities – often off-site on industrial estates, where existing or purpose-built units are cheaper to manage and run.
Storage areas within a museum building are not easily extended, and take up valuable space, so are often better used for short-term storage, publically accessible stores or new galleries.
“In the past, museum stores tended to be housed in existing buildings but now there is more awareness of the benefits of investing in proper museum stores,” Percy says.
“These are often planned as part of Heritage Lottery Fund redevelopments or other capital projects.”
When storage is part of a wider redevelopment, Rob Dakin, the divisional project manager at Link 51 Storage Systems, urges museums to consider their options at the outset.
“There is nothing worse than late planning,” he adds.
“Museums are starting to realise this and getting storage specialists involved early on. We always start with the collection – what a museum has got and how it needs to be stored, will determine the space needed.”
But it’s not just about space. During the planning stages, museums also need to consider how the facilities will be used, by whom and how often.
The answers to these questions, and knowing exactly how much space is available, will influence the storage solutions, such as shelfing or racking, that a museum procures.
High shelfing, for example, can help maximise space and reduce costs, but if a museum wants to regularly retrieve objects then it won’t be suitable.
The structure of the building, including the strength of the floor, also needs to be considered when designing storage, says Richard Ryan, the managing director of Forster Ecospace, which specialises in shelving systems and picture racking.
What lies beneath?
Several libraries and archives have parts of their collections in deep-storage facilities, such as old salts mines or in disused London Underground tunnels.
Percy is not convinced this type of storage is a realistic option for museums, mainly because they are owned by third-party operators.
“I suspect most museums only use third-party stores for overspill during redevelopments or relocations, because they can be expensive and do not offer a permanent solution to the lack of storage space.”
The logistics of storing items underground can also pose challenges. “Retrieval from deep stores can be quick, but it’s more a question of where these stores are located geographically and how accessible that is for a museum,” Dakin says.
“Having said that, museums often think their collections need to be more accessible than they actually have to be, which is why so many stores are on site. I would like to see museums follow the archive sector and look at out-of-town industrial estates.”
The National Archives, which has been using DeepStore salt mine in Cheshire since 2003 (see separate article), can access material within 24 hours. But the majority of the items it keeps in deep storage are digitised or have very low usage.
Racking solutions
Dakin has worked in the storage sector for 33 years. He says one of the biggest changes in that time has been attitudes to storage. “Museums are more careful about collections management than they used to be,” he says.
The technology has also come on in leaps and bounds. “Storage has become far more sophisticated – there is much more choice available, and more attention is paid to tailoring storage for different types of collections,” Dakin says.
Electronic mobile shelving is one example. Advances made in the design of these systems mean it’s now possible for have soft starts and stops, meaning even fragile objects can be stored in this way.
It’s now also possible to have pin codes that restrict access to units and systems to monitor access. And fire alarm systems can be linked directly to the shelves, giving museums more control over what happens if the sprinkler system is activated.
“One of the systems we now have developed is an electronic mobile two-tier shelving unit called the double decker,” says Percy. “This exploits the space available much better; mobile shelfing itself creates double the amount of storage space, so the double decker effectively creates four times as much.”
The Museums Association is running an MP seminar, Off The Shelf: Making Storage Work For You, at the British Museum on 17 March
But the vast majority are packed away in storage, whether that’s in a museum or in an off-site satellite store.
Although the exact percentage of public collections in storage isn’t known, it is often quoted as being as high as 95%.
This raises a number of issues, not least that of public access. The Open Museum, which is based at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, has pioneered public access to stored collections for many years, and a number of other organisations across the UK now offer behind-the-scenes tours or have open stores that can be visited by researchers as well as members of the public.
But the number of visitors to storage sites is believed to be relatively low. According to Collections for People, a 2008 survey of museums in England and Wales carried out by University College London (UCL), the number of visitors or users to stored collections ranged from zero to 14,000 a year.
Newspaper headlines regularly question why such a high proportion of collections are not on public display. These are often followed up with calls for museums to sell unseen collections in order to raise money to offset public funding cuts.
The cost of storing collections can also be controversial.
In 2011, a report by the BBC found that some nationals were spending more than £500,000 a year renting external storage space to supplement existing storage facilities.
As many collections continue to grow, the cost of storage is becoming ever more important.
Consultant Rachel Edwards’s report for the Society of Museum Archaeology revealed in 2012 that a lack of storage space meant many local authorities were unable to collect archaeological archives.
Early planning
These challenges mean that museums are increasingly looking for new ways to store their collections – from providing public access and redeveloping stores to make the most of the space available, to considering more unusual options such as deep storage.
Alan Percy, the general sales manager for Brunzeel Storage Solutions, says the museums he works with are increasingly looking to develop centralised storage facilities – often off-site on industrial estates, where existing or purpose-built units are cheaper to manage and run.
Storage areas within a museum building are not easily extended, and take up valuable space, so are often better used for short-term storage, publically accessible stores or new galleries.
“In the past, museum stores tended to be housed in existing buildings but now there is more awareness of the benefits of investing in proper museum stores,” Percy says.
“These are often planned as part of Heritage Lottery Fund redevelopments or other capital projects.”
When storage is part of a wider redevelopment, Rob Dakin, the divisional project manager at Link 51 Storage Systems, urges museums to consider their options at the outset.
“There is nothing worse than late planning,” he adds.
“Museums are starting to realise this and getting storage specialists involved early on. We always start with the collection – what a museum has got and how it needs to be stored, will determine the space needed.”
But it’s not just about space. During the planning stages, museums also need to consider how the facilities will be used, by whom and how often.
The answers to these questions, and knowing exactly how much space is available, will influence the storage solutions, such as shelfing or racking, that a museum procures.
High shelfing, for example, can help maximise space and reduce costs, but if a museum wants to regularly retrieve objects then it won’t be suitable.
The structure of the building, including the strength of the floor, also needs to be considered when designing storage, says Richard Ryan, the managing director of Forster Ecospace, which specialises in shelving systems and picture racking.
What lies beneath?
Several libraries and archives have parts of their collections in deep-storage facilities, such as old salts mines or in disused London Underground tunnels.
Percy is not convinced this type of storage is a realistic option for museums, mainly because they are owned by third-party operators.
“I suspect most museums only use third-party stores for overspill during redevelopments or relocations, because they can be expensive and do not offer a permanent solution to the lack of storage space.”
The logistics of storing items underground can also pose challenges. “Retrieval from deep stores can be quick, but it’s more a question of where these stores are located geographically and how accessible that is for a museum,” Dakin says.
“Having said that, museums often think their collections need to be more accessible than they actually have to be, which is why so many stores are on site. I would like to see museums follow the archive sector and look at out-of-town industrial estates.”
The National Archives, which has been using DeepStore salt mine in Cheshire since 2003 (see separate article), can access material within 24 hours. But the majority of the items it keeps in deep storage are digitised or have very low usage.
Racking solutions
Dakin has worked in the storage sector for 33 years. He says one of the biggest changes in that time has been attitudes to storage. “Museums are more careful about collections management than they used to be,” he says.
The technology has also come on in leaps and bounds. “Storage has become far more sophisticated – there is much more choice available, and more attention is paid to tailoring storage for different types of collections,” Dakin says.
Electronic mobile shelving is one example. Advances made in the design of these systems mean it’s now possible for have soft starts and stops, meaning even fragile objects can be stored in this way.
It’s now also possible to have pin codes that restrict access to units and systems to monitor access. And fire alarm systems can be linked directly to the shelves, giving museums more control over what happens if the sprinkler system is activated.
“One of the systems we now have developed is an electronic mobile two-tier shelving unit called the double decker,” says Percy. “This exploits the space available much better; mobile shelfing itself creates double the amount of storage space, so the double decker effectively creates four times as much.”
The Museums Association is running an MP seminar, Off The Shelf: Making Storage Work For You, at the British Museum on 17 March