Museums have too many 'caretakers' and not enough 'collection activists', according to a new report to be published by the Museums Association (MA) this month.
Collections for the Future will be launched on 14 June and is the result of an 18-month inquiry into the state of collections in the UK.
Jane Glaister, the director of arts, heritage and leisure in Bradford and chairwoman of the inquiry, said that museums needed more people looking at collections, assessing their value and actively going into the marketplace and collecting.
'If we, as a profession, are merely acting as caretakers and not as collection activists, then we are not fulfilling our obligations,' said Glaister.
The report makes a number of key recommendations under three headings: Engagement; the Dynamic Collection; and Strengthening the Museum Sector.
Under Engagement, the report says that museums should do more to encourage people to engage with collections, and that more collections should be in active use. The report found that museums lacked knowledge about their collections and recommends a more targeted approach to documentation and knowledge management.
The Dynamic Collection looks at how museums can develop their collections through acquisitions, touring exhibitions, loans and disposal. The inquiry found resistance to the idea of an over-centralised approach to collecting, and the idea of a distributed national collection was rejected.
Instead, the MA is committed to working with other bodies to strengthen the capacity for acquisitions, advocate more funding for temporary exhibitions and a possible loans network, and find ways to streamline museums' disposal procedures.
Hedley Swain, the head of early London history at the Museum of London and a member of the collections report working group, said that it was important that museums recognised that they could not grow indefinitely: 'We have a huge amount of material that isn't being used. We need to be more flexible and think hard about how we collect and who we collect for.'
The report also found that some museum staff lack the expertise to interpret their collections and are inhibited in collecting because they don't have the skill and confidence to purchase in the marketplace.
In Strengthening the Museum Sector, the report also says many people working in museums are trapped in roles that do not draw on their skills and potential, and that talent is wasted as a result.
The MA promises to explore the possibility of raising funding for a programme of additional curatorial support for underused collections, as well as reviewing the way that museum studies courses prepare people for careers in museums.
As yet there is no funding available to implement the recommendations of the report but Glaister said that she was confident that the MA could get funding from different streams once a strategic plan had been confirmed.
She added that there was immediate action that museums could take from the report: 'In Bradford, we're interested in conducting a peer review of collections - getting professionals from outside to look at how we use our collections.' She also said that the report would form the basis for a thorough review of how the museum service uses its collections.
Collections for the Future will be launched on 14 June and is the result of an 18-month inquiry into the state of collections in the UK.
Jane Glaister, the director of arts, heritage and leisure in Bradford and chairwoman of the inquiry, said that museums needed more people looking at collections, assessing their value and actively going into the marketplace and collecting.
'If we, as a profession, are merely acting as caretakers and not as collection activists, then we are not fulfilling our obligations,' said Glaister.
The report makes a number of key recommendations under three headings: Engagement; the Dynamic Collection; and Strengthening the Museum Sector.
Under Engagement, the report says that museums should do more to encourage people to engage with collections, and that more collections should be in active use. The report found that museums lacked knowledge about their collections and recommends a more targeted approach to documentation and knowledge management.
The Dynamic Collection looks at how museums can develop their collections through acquisitions, touring exhibitions, loans and disposal. The inquiry found resistance to the idea of an over-centralised approach to collecting, and the idea of a distributed national collection was rejected.
Instead, the MA is committed to working with other bodies to strengthen the capacity for acquisitions, advocate more funding for temporary exhibitions and a possible loans network, and find ways to streamline museums' disposal procedures.
Hedley Swain, the head of early London history at the Museum of London and a member of the collections report working group, said that it was important that museums recognised that they could not grow indefinitely: 'We have a huge amount of material that isn't being used. We need to be more flexible and think hard about how we collect and who we collect for.'
The report also found that some museum staff lack the expertise to interpret their collections and are inhibited in collecting because they don't have the skill and confidence to purchase in the marketplace.
In Strengthening the Museum Sector, the report also says many people working in museums are trapped in roles that do not draw on their skills and potential, and that talent is wasted as a result.
The MA promises to explore the possibility of raising funding for a programme of additional curatorial support for underused collections, as well as reviewing the way that museum studies courses prepare people for careers in museums.
As yet there is no funding available to implement the recommendations of the report but Glaister said that she was confident that the MA could get funding from different streams once a strategic plan had been confirmed.
She added that there was immediate action that museums could take from the report: 'In Bradford, we're interested in conducting a peer review of collections - getting professionals from outside to look at how we use our collections.' She also said that the report would form the basis for a thorough review of how the museum service uses its collections.