It is a healthy sign if a profession can openly discuss the issues that lie at its very heart. The publication of the Museums Association's Collections for the Future report should be the beginning of such a debate.
In the course of the discussion there are bound to be opposing views and strong opinions expressed. Some of these have already been aired during the consultation period.
The report covers the key areas of: engaging audiences; acquisitions and disposal; and the skills gap in museums. All these themes are reflected in this issue of Museums Journal.
The degree to which museums should share control of the meaning of objects with the public; the distributed national collection; and the extent to which collections are used and displayed also feature in the report.
Wherever you sit on these debates, a common theme is that a 'radical' approach to collections is needed. This can mean different things to different people but there is no getting away from the fact that museums need to tackle the size, quantity and quality of their collections.
Even the most cautious of you recognise that museums cannot simply continue to grow. Therefore we either say that museums are full, and as a result no new donations will be accepted, all collecting stops and museums remain frozen in time. Or we look at ways of rationalising collections.
One suggestion in the report is to transfer objects to other museums or public institutions. But museums may find that they are trying to disperse similar types of material: if you are all attempting to get rid of exactly the same sort of stuff then it's going to be tricky to find a suitable home for it.
Which leads to the question of disposal, which will undoubtedly be the most controversial aspect of the report. Museums have tended to shy away from the issue in the past and are sometimes discouraged from disposing by previous mistakes; after all, everyone knows of a disposal horror story.
But it doesn't have to be like that. Planned and ethical rationalisation of collections is a necessary part of collections management. Museums have to make decisions about what they acquire according to their budget, collections policy and what curators judge to be of worth to future generations. That professional judgement now needs to be extended to disposal.
sharon@museumsassociation.org
In the course of the discussion there are bound to be opposing views and strong opinions expressed. Some of these have already been aired during the consultation period.
The report covers the key areas of: engaging audiences; acquisitions and disposal; and the skills gap in museums. All these themes are reflected in this issue of Museums Journal.
The degree to which museums should share control of the meaning of objects with the public; the distributed national collection; and the extent to which collections are used and displayed also feature in the report.
Wherever you sit on these debates, a common theme is that a 'radical' approach to collections is needed. This can mean different things to different people but there is no getting away from the fact that museums need to tackle the size, quantity and quality of their collections.
Even the most cautious of you recognise that museums cannot simply continue to grow. Therefore we either say that museums are full, and as a result no new donations will be accepted, all collecting stops and museums remain frozen in time. Or we look at ways of rationalising collections.
One suggestion in the report is to transfer objects to other museums or public institutions. But museums may find that they are trying to disperse similar types of material: if you are all attempting to get rid of exactly the same sort of stuff then it's going to be tricky to find a suitable home for it.
Which leads to the question of disposal, which will undoubtedly be the most controversial aspect of the report. Museums have tended to shy away from the issue in the past and are sometimes discouraged from disposing by previous mistakes; after all, everyone knows of a disposal horror story.
But it doesn't have to be like that. Planned and ethical rationalisation of collections is a necessary part of collections management. Museums have to make decisions about what they acquire according to their budget, collections policy and what curators judge to be of worth to future generations. That professional judgement now needs to be extended to disposal.
sharon@museumsassociation.org
