Exploring

Collection Management

There are several basic collection management activities that play a crucial role in the preservation of collections. These include development of an institutional mission statement and collecting policy, as well as organization and cataloging of collections.

Preservation planning requires a manager to set priorities and make choices by looking at the resources available for preservation and weighing the condition, needs, and value of materials against them. When time and resources are limited, it makes most sense to concentrate preservation efforts on materials that serve the mission of an organization. To do this, a repository must have a detailed understanding of its goals and objectives for its collections—exactly what it wishes to document, who it wishes to serve, and what types of material it will collect to accomplish those goals.

Making effective preservation choices also requires good intellectual control of collections, since relative values and preservation priorities cannot be assigned unless staff is familiar with the content of collections. In addition, intellectual control is crucial to providing access to your collections. Your collections may be housed in archival boxes, stored in a moderate environment, and protected from disaster, but if they are not accessible to users, you have neglected a basic responsibility.