Getting to grips with our collections

It's that time again when many museums and galleries across England will be focusing on their next NPO application and working out what their priorities are for the next round. If we could make one plea to museums as they prepare their bid, it would be this: commit to achieving and maintaining 100% inventory-level documentation of your collections.

I know that might not sound as exciting as talking about audiences, participation, social impact or digital innovation. Nor is it an easy fix – I understand that well enough from my own museums. But the older I get, the more convinced I become that so many of our ambitions depend on getting the basics right first.

The Collections Trust has put this challenge at the heart of its strategic plan, setting out an ambition for all Accredited museums to achieve and maintain inventory-level documentation. For me, that shouldn't just be a Collections Trust ambition. It should be a sector ambition.

Because before we can tell stories with collections, before we can share them online, before we can engage communities in interpreting them, before we can use AI, before we can support research, before we can even properly care for them, we need to know what we have. It sounds obvious, but I don't think we talk about it enough.

Museums are increasingly being asked to demonstrate public impact. We need to show how collections improve lives, contribute to education, support wellbeing, foster belonging and generate new knowledge – but before we can do any of that we need confidence in our collections data. Because if we don't know what we hold, where it is, what condition it is in, or what stories it can tell, everything else becomes harder.

The museums that are able to do really ambitious things with their collections are usually the museums that have invested in understanding them first. That isn't glamorous work. It is painstaking, often repetitive and rarely generates headlines. But it is some of the most important work we do.

Most of us inherited collections and documentation systems that weren't designed for the expectations museums face today. Many museums are still dealing with documentation backlogs that have built up over decades. The Collections Trust's emphasis on initiatives such as Banish the Backlog recognises just how widespread this challenge is across the sector. We shouldn't be embarrassed about that, but we should be ambitious about addressing it.

In the same way that we would never accept a major financial system where we couldn't account for significant assets, we shouldn't accept collections systems that leave us uncertain about what we hold. Funders increasingly talk about resilience and sustainability. Achieving robust inventory documentation is one of the clearest examples of both.

Another conversation I think we need to have more openly is about disposal. It's a subject that can still make people uncomfortable, but I have come to believe that thoughtful and ethical disposal is a sign of healthy collections management, not poor collections management. Museums have finite resources, finite storage, finite (or increasingly little) conservation capacity and finite staff time. We cannot simply keep acquiring without thinking about the long-term consequences.

Good stewardship is not just about bringing objects in. It is also about making informed decisions about what we continue to hold and why. Sometimes the most responsible thing a museum can do is transfer material to another organisation where it is more relevant, more accessible or better used. The Collections Trust's strategic vision includes work to make disposals more efficient and auditable, recognising their role within strategic collections management. If we are serious about sustainable collections, disposal needs to be part of the discussion.

We also fully understand that the world is increasingly digital, which is why our strategy focuses on digital infrastructure and FAIR data principles – data that is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. The vision recognises that inventory-level documentation is only the beginning. Museums are encouraged to build richer collections information over time, share data more effectively and participate in wider national infrastructure initiatives such as the Museum Data Service (MDS).

The next round of NPO applications presents a significant opportunity. Museums should absolutely continue to champion audiences, inclusion, participation and learning. Those things matter enormously. But I would encourage every museum leader, trustee and funder to recognise that strong collections management is not separate from those ambitions. It is what enables them.

Imagine what could be achieved if every museum committed to the simple but powerful goal of 100% inventory-level documentation. Imagine the research opportunities, the increased public access and the ability to share collections nationally and internationally. The sector talks a great deal about transformation. Perhaps one of the most transformative things we could do is return to the fundamentals of knowing what we hold, where it is and why it matters.

That is why we believe achieving 100% inventory should become one of the defining ambitions for museums over the next decade – and why we hope to see it reflected prominently in NPO applications across the country.

Laura Pye is the director of National Museums Liverpool and chair of the Collections Trust