Developing Staff Resources for Managing Collections

• Description

Institutions are facing increased pressures to provide services with decreasing resources and increasing accountability. Similarly, pressures and trends both within institutions and society are causing the field of collections management to evolve rapidly. To meet their responsibilities for collections management, institutions must plan strategically for professional development of staff involved in the collection management system.

Recognizing this, the Canadian Museum of Nature and the Virginia Museum of Natural History implemented a project to establish a framework for developing staff resources for collections management. The result of this project as reported in this publication include a clarification of the knowledge and skills required for collection management as well as recommendations to address professional development needs of the institution and its staff.