Collections Management

What is Collections Management?

“Collections management is the deliberate development, documentation, maintenance, use and disposition of museum collections”
- Smithsonian Institution  

• The functions of a museum are to collect, preserve, research, study, exhibit, interpret, educate and entertain. Collections management is the area of the museum profession that addresses the first two functions: Collect and Preserve.
• The objects in a museum collection are what set them apart from other non-profit organizations. The management of these materials is fundamental to a museum’s mission.
• The collections manager is responsible for permitting physical and intellectual access to the museum’s collection while protecting and caring for the collection so it can be enjoyed for many generations.

Collections Management Policy

“A detailed written statement that explains why a museum is in operation and how it goes about its business, and it articulates the museum’s professional standards regarding objects left in its care”
- Smithsonian Institution

• A museum’s collections management policy is a key document that guides all collection based decisions.
• The policy covers:
  • Governing Authority, Mission Statement, and Role of Collections
  • Responsibility of Curatorial Staff and Scope of Collections
  • Policies and Procedures: Acquisitions, Accessioning, Deaccessioning, and Loans
  • Collections Care and Control 

 Copies of the Buffalo Museum of Science’s Collections Management Policy are available upon  request. 

Goals of successful Collections Management

• Providing appropriate storage for collections
• Maintaining the environmental conditions of collections at predetermined levels
• Providing intellectual or physical access to materials
• Maintaining supporting documentation for objects in the collection