Vox Pop | What needs to change in museum documentation?

“At Newstead, I receive many emails a week asking specific, broad or sometimes weird questions about our collection. Our well-maintained and fast database makes the task of responding mercifully efficient.

Time invested in our systems gives me the tools and space to do the challenging, progressive work that we all seek to do. I see so much inspiring work in museums, harnessing the power of collections for real public benefit. Documentation is at the root of it all and properly resourcing it is an essential investment.”

“Documentation must be given more active attention by governing bodies and funders. The sector has to prioritise scarce resources on maintaining up-to-date inventories. We can then be held accountable for the collections in our care.

Beyond that, cataloguing is an open-ended process of describing, researching and interpreting that should involve users and stakeholders. It’s not down to us – let’s be inclusive for practical and ethical reasons. Let’s banish the inventory backlog and rethink cataloguing.”

“Museum documentation is logistically difficult, and immensely complex in terms of the knowledge that it can include and the terminology that it uses. This means it can pretty much never be perfect or complete.

I’d like to see documentation become more collaborative and open so that it can be part of values-led work that engages and includes people. We should be proud of capturing and sharing research at the heart of our museums.”