Policies for Managing Collections
| Instructor: | John Simmons |
|---|---|
| Course Date: | June 30, 2025 |
| Cost: | $400 |
A Collections Management Policy is one of the 5 core documents listed by the American Alliance of Museums “because they are fundamental for basic professional museum operations and embody core museum values and practices.” In the 4 week online course Policies for Managing Collections we will critically examine the purposes and functions of collections management policies, including how collections are defined, acquired, managed, used, maintained, and deaccessioned. Participants will learn how to write collections management policies for their own institutions and how to evaluate the effectiveness of their policies. The course textbook will be supplemented by a variety of readings, exercises, lectures, and assignments.
Free Resource
Monopolicy -the Collections Management Policy Game
The Monopolicy game is based on the book,
Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies (second edition, 2018).
Download your Free copy of Monopolicy.
El juego de mesa
Monopolítica [
Monopolicy ] es basado en el libro,
Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies (segunda edición, 2018). Descargue su copia Gratuita de
Monopolítica comenzando con las instrucciones.
- Course Goals
- Become familiar with the purposes, function, and application of collections management policies.
- Learn how to develop and write collections management policies for your institution.
- Learn how to evaluate the usefulness of polices and revise them when necessary.
- Develop and understanding of collections management policies in the broader museum context.
Participants will learn how to write collections management policies for their own institutions and how to evaluate the effectiveness of their policies. In four weeks we can not possibly cover everything that one could encounter in policies for managing collections, but we hope to give you the tools and resources to figure out issues that arise. The main goal of this course then is to introduce you to the most essential methodology and resources.
Participant Outcomes
Participants will:
Why should all collecting institutions have a collection management policy? Watch the webinar John Simmons presented on May 16, 2023 Introduction to Collection Management Policies. This introductory webinar explains how written collection management policies can improve the management of both small and large collections, the basic steps to follow when preparing policies, and the core issues that should be addressed.
Museums today are faced with many new and unexpected challenges, including climate change, developing sustainable practices in collection care, preservation of digital information, decolonization and repatriation, changing environmental parameters for collection storage, and strategies for coping with ever-larger collections with shrinking budgets. In his May 2024 webinar, New Policies for New Problems, John E. Simmons discussed how good collection management policies can help museums address these issues and other topics in the new, revised third edition of Things Great and Small: Collection Management Policies.
Too learn more about taking an online professional development course with Museum Study visit What is involved in taking a Museum Study course?
Required Text:
Simmons, John E. 2024. Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies, 3rd Ed. American Association of Museums, Washington, DC, iv + 330 pages.
Museum Study students can take advantage of a special offer from Rowman & Littlefield to purchase the book at a discount.
Policies for Managing Collections addresses the American Association for State and Local History's Stewardship of Collections Standard 2, The Institution legally, ethically, and effectively manages, documents, cares for, and uses the collections.
- Does the institution have a written, governing authority approved collections policy?
- Does the institution recognize the role of professional ethics regarding collections?
- Are there written criteria for accepting and refusing collections?
- Are there written procedures for acquiring, borrowing and lending collection items?
- Are there written procedures for deaccession and disposal of collection items?
Comments from participants:
Thank you for offering this course. I found it extremely useful. The strengths of the course were many, and include:
- content and resources were strong and well-organized; good progression from week to week;
- student to teacher ratio was outstanding!!!!!!!!
- high relevance of course material to my job;
- great textbook; will be on my desk all the time while we finalize our collections management policy;
- best chat session was the one about deaccessioning, where I was able to bring a specific issue facing my museum/college and strategize with seasoned professionals about ways to move forward.