Category Archives: Announcements

Announcements, Articles

Focus on what you CAN do, not what you CAN’T

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In these past few weeks it seems that there were so many horrible things happening that just making a list of them feels overwhelming and exhausting. Some of the decisions of the current U.S. government have an impact on the global level, others hit people personally, some of whom are close friends. And then, there are those who seem to target the very core of our profession, like the shutting down of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the termination of grants already awarded by the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH).

It is hard not to lose all hope in this climate. And yet, aren’t we, as museum professionals, used to things not really looking pretty? Haven’t we battled budget and staff cuts before? Haven’t we brought uncomfortable truths in front of the eyes of our visitors and politicians before? Maybe the current crisis is not comparable to what we were confronted with before. But just as well, we are well trained in going against adversarial circumstances.

We have always done so with resilience, creativity, and, most of all, a sense of community. We might be spread out across the world and we might have spread ourselves thin by taking on too many responsibilities, but we are not alone. I have reached out to my network over the past few days to check in on some people, see how they are coping, and getting ideas of what can be done, because, in the end, focusing on what can’t be done never made anything better.

Ninja at a laptop, source: PenClipartVectors via pixabay (CC0)
A ninja sitting at a desk, typing away on a laptop.

Turns out that John E. Simmons had already started collecting what can be done to prepare for what is coming at us in something we registrars love: A list.

I contributed a few of my thoughts to it and we also asked some more colleagues to add to it. What I am posting here today is by no means a comprehensive and finalized list of what to think about and what to do, but it is a start. Feel free to add more ideas in the comments section, just like we enhance it going forward.

What Can We Do?

1. Apply the lessons that museums learned from Covid

  • A museum should have a plan for suddenly shutting down or having to reduce staff for a prolonged long period of time.
  • The plan should include cross-training for all staff so that a reduced staff can keep the institution functioning and care for the collections. Every staff member should be trained to do tasks that are normally not part of their duties so that they can help in the event of a prolonged emergency.
  • The plan should include what the museum can do to remain a destination for visitors during a crisis. This might include regulating the number of visitors in the museum at the any one time during a pandemic, reducing or eliminating admission fees for visitors during a prolonged financial crisis, and how responsibilities could be handled by a reduced staff. It is worth noting that a recent study revealed that art museums that charge admission spend an average of $100 per visitor but attract smaller audiences than free museums, and that there are costs associated with collecting admission fees that may not be recovered by the fee. Details can be found at https://news.artnet.com/art-world/us-museums-visitors-report-2622358).

2. Prepare the collections for long-term, low maintenance storage

by preparing the most sustainable and passive storage environment possible:

  • Improve the effectiveness of the collection storage furniture, containers, and supports to protect the collections (e.g., replace gaskets on doors, eliminate acidic materials, reduce lighting and UV in storage).
  • Keep the collection in order (each object in its proper place in storage) at all times (do not allow a backlog of out-of-place objects to build up).
  • Improve environmental controls and environmental monitoring procedures.
  • Maintain storage environment equipment in good order (e.g. replace filters, service equipment regularly, replace aging HVAC systems).

3. Protect the databases

  • Make sure that you have a fully up-to-date, readable copy of all important museum databases stored somewhere outside of the building, preferably in a hard format as well as electronic.
  • Make sure that both on-site and off-site databases are protected so they cannot be accessed by unauthorized personnel. Renew passwords and other project on a frequent, regular basis.
  • If the institution is forced to close, and you have a good backup copy, consider removing databases from the museum servers to protect confidential information.
  • When possible look into storing backup copies of your databases that are not only readable in a proprietary format of one vendor (who might be forced to hand your sensitive data over or might go out of business). If you database allows for it, export your important data as SQL tables or as comma separated values (.csv). Excel formats such as xlsx, xls, or ods are fine, too.
  • When possible move your sensitive data to trusted servers outside the U.S. that don’t belong to U.S. based companies who might be forced to hand your sensitive data over or delete your data.
  • As a rule of thumb: make access to your data for your trusted staff as easy as possible, but make deleting data from your database hard by setting up a robust rights management and whenever possible enable procedures to revert to earlier data entry points.

4. Update the institutional emergency preparedness plan

to include procedures for coping with sudden, prolonged shutdowns of the building.

5. Stock up on critical supplies

6. Download anything needed from federal websites

(such as the NPS Museum Handbook and Conserve O Grams or IMLS reports) immediately, while the information is still available. Store this data in a safe place that is only accessible to authorized personnel and make deleting those resources as hard as possible.

7. Keep in mind that most serious problem going forward will probably not be the cuts in federal funding

to the NIH, NEA, NSF, IMLS, etc., because most of this money goes to projects which can be postponed or funded by other sources (such as donations). The most serious problem will be the lack of funds resulting from damage done to the economy due to a combination of the rising deficit, increasing unemployment (e.g., the mass reductions in the federal workforce and corresponding loss of jobs in sectors that serve the federal workforce), and decreased tax revenues due to tax cuts for the wealthy, tariffs on imports, and cuts to social services. In other words, the predicted problems with the US economy are far more likely to be a bigger problem for museums than the loss of federal grant funds.

8. Reach out to your community and build strong networks

Let your community know that you need their support now more than ever.

Let them know that most small museums in their immediate area do not get federal funds directly, but do get support from their state humanities councils. Membership for these museums is usually less than $30 a year and they put the money to good use.

If you have lost funding from IMLS or NEH, let your community know. Here’s an example from a small museum explaining exactly what was lost:
“The termination of the NEH grant award and the loss of $25,000 are devastating for the Weston History & Culture Center. This funding was going to support our upcoming permanent exhibit…”

The people caring about your museum can write and phone their representatives to let them know they are not okay with what is happening right now.

Reach out to your colleagues in your area but also around the world. Local networks will make it easier to help each other out with supplies and hands-on tasks. Colleagues in other countries might be able to provide a safe space for your vulnerable data and might have had to deal with similar circumstances in the past, so might be able to contribute with knowledge and creative solutions.

Words of Cheer:

  • Museums existed long before the IMLS and other federal granting agencies, so they can survive this period, although many worthy projects and much research will be halted unless alternative funding can be found.
  • With preparation, museums can survive the coming crisis as they have survived other crises. There will be staff reductions and loss of opportunities, but with any luck, the situation will change within a few years.
  • Take a good look at your policies and procedures and investigate new laws and executive orders you are confronted with. Laws that are passed in a great hurry often contain contradictions and loopholes. Often asking for clarifications by authorities can slow processes down and work to your advantage. Often stalling a process in good faith can be much more effective than open opposition which puts you and your staff at risk.
  • Be prepared to be patient. Lawsuits and judicial decisions challenging the proposed changes will take time to go through the courts.
  • In the longer term, climate change and its effects on museum operations, the economy, and the behavior of the public is the greatest challenge to the future of museums, so the present crisis should be used to prepare for the future.

Best Advice:

If your institution does not have a plan for long-term survival during a financial crisis, the next pandemic, or climate change, get busy now to correct this deficit.

Helpful Information

  • Snider, Julianne. 2024. The Wheel is Already Invented: Planning for the Next Crisis. Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 20(2):347-359, DOI: 10.1177/15501906241232309
  • Susana Smith Bautista (2021)—How to Close a Museum. A Practical Guide (Rowman & Littlefield)
  • Christopher J. Garthe (2023)—The Sustainable Museum. How Museums Contribute to the Great Transformation (Routledge)

Some more notes

Share this resource freely with anyone you think needs to see this, no need to ask for permission. Add what applies to your special case. Let us know what we should add. Download, save, print, circulate.

Download List as PDF

Registrar Trek is hosted on a server in Germany and following EU laws. I am currently looking through all the plug-ins I use to make sure none of them collects and shares any personal data with the U.S. Or, in fact, anybody. I always was mindful not to collect any personal information but will double-check again if everything is safe.

Hang on in there, you are not alone!

Announcements

Heads up: Bug when buying Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections from Amazon

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A box with a stash of copies from managing previously unmanaged collections

Two things happened today:

I finally got my author’s copies of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections and I was notified that there is a problem with ordering the book from Amazon:

When you are ordering from Amazon.com and you are on the website of the paperback https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Previously-Unmanaged-Collections-Practical/dp/1538190648/ and then click on the “Kindle” version you are directed to the old 2016 edition of the book.

Conversely, if you go to Amazon in Germany or the UK and are on the “Kindle” version https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Angela-Kipp-ebook/dp/B0D7R1N7KC/ and then switch to the paperback version you get the old version of the paperback.

Just a heads-up, since I learned today that people bought the old version by accident that way.

I do, however recommend buying from your local bookshop or directly from the publisher (https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538190630/Managing-Previously-Unmanaged-Collections-A-Practical-Guide-for-Museums-Second-Edition) anyway.

Announcements

Egypt Calling is out!

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You might remember that in my New Year’s post I announced that a friend of mine is working on a book with a collections manager as main character, right? Guess what? It is out!

I am low-key proud that me talking about our profession so passionately inspired it. Well, kinda, we were touching the topic every now and then. Like the conversations with him and two friends of us (one writes horror and mystery, the other a fantasy) often go, it derailed completely from how something disappearing from a museum is among a registrar’s worst nightmares to the thought of what would happen if you realize one bright, new, early morning that, well, a whole seven feet high statue has simply disappeared from your well-guarded grounds.

Paul tackled the topic with his usual sense of humor and unusual talent for creating quirky characters. I added some reality check to it while at the same time granting enough artistic license to let it stay a riveting tale instead of becoming a novel about museum policies, loan procedures, and conflict of interest that it probably had become if I had written it. It kept me on the edge of my seat and laughing out loud so I highly recommend it, although my view is of course not really neutral.

Fun fact: While he wrote it, it inspired me to write a few chapters of a spin-off story where another statue, Leonardo, finds himself suddenly alive as a collateral damage of the events in the book. It is written from Leonardo’s point of view and you can imagine that it is quite confusing to find yourself standing on a pedestal in the middle of a museum. Especially if you haven’t been alive before. Ever. And your head is marble. This makes thinking…hard. Leonardo and his friend Betty, barista extraordinaire, even make a guest appearance in Paul’s book.

Anyway, in these dire times I feel we can all use some lighthearted humor and Egypt Calling provides you with plenty of it. If you are up for it, I here is the start of Leonardo’s story.

Egypt Calling is available here and in all bookstores: https://paulkater.com/egypt-calling.html

Announcements, Book: Unmanaged Collections

New Year, New Books

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Hi and welcome back on Registrar Trek. Although I am not around that frequently anymore due to real life and also due to my new job, the registrar’s community is still close to my heart.

So, what is going on right now?

I am very glad I can announce that the second edition of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections is hot off the press. You can get it on a bookstore close by, at Rowman&Littlefield https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538190654/Managing-Previously-Unmanaged-Collections-A-Practical-Guide-for-Museums-Second-Edition or of course over Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Previously-Unmanaged-Collections-Practical-ebook/dp/B0D7R1N7KC/

I did a presentation about what is new with Museum Study LLC in November. You can watch the recording here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s2BOt8S17M

Cover of the second edition of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections. it has chaotic mussels on the top and organized mussels on the bottom of the title.

I am also very glad that right now negotiations are going on to have it translated into Spanish. Right now it is just a matter of finding a fitting publisher, the translators are at the ready. By the way, this time around I secured the publishing rights for all other languages than English, so if you happen to know an interested publisher in your own language…

I was also very happy to hear from Susan Maltby, who was my conservator’s second pair of eyes in the first edition https://world.museumsprojekte.de/unmanaged-collections-with-a-little-help-from-my-friends/ She has contributed to a great new resource called “Collections Management as Critical Museum Practice”, edited by Cara Krmpotich and Alice Stevenson, that is published as free PDF here: https://uclpress.co.uk/book/collections-management-as-critical-museum-practice/

Cover of Collections Management as Critical Museum Practice, it has a colorful painting in the front that I suspect to be indigenous but didn't find a hint on what it is. The rest of the cover is black.

You’ll find her article “Public art and artefacts – who cares: caring for art and artefacts in the public realm; ethical considerations “ on page 401, but the whole thing is well worth a read. Trying to sum it up would be likely just rewording what is said better by Christina Kreps from the University of Denver, Colorado:

“A groundbreaking volume that critically assesses collections management from alternative perspectives. The book’s contributors destabilize the orthodoxy of “best practices” by shifting the focus to culturally appropriate models of stewardship, pushing for a more integrated, holistic praxis. Reaching beyond the typical domains of collections management, chapters cover the most salient topics in museology today. A “must read” for museum anthropology and museum studies students, practitioners, and scholars.“

A fun thing happened. I got lost in Rome. Okay, no, that is not the fun thing about it, the fun thing is that I missed the right way to the European Registrars Conference and while completely unnecessarily climbing one of those famous hills the city was founded upon, I met another registrar on her way to the conference. While finding our right way together, it turned out that Sandy Esne is more than just a registrar (okay, you could argue that this is more than enough, it is a job for two people, but you know what I mean), in her free time she also writes fiction! Her protagonist Alex Philothea gets herself caught in quite an adventure that involves Ancient Egypt, magic, mysteries, crimes… I am not saying more. You can find her KHNM series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5NWH5FW

Cover of the fiction book Daughter of Maat. it is blue and shows the columns to a temple. In the middle is a blinding light.

And speaking of books… A friend of mine who isn’t in the museum business (yes, they do exist!) is currently writing a riveting and fun book that has a curator and collections manager as main hero. It also involves Ancient Egypt and the collective registrars’ trauma of a borrowed object suddenly missing from an exhibition. It gets even more nightmarish if you think that a 7 feet statue of Ramses II one morning simply isn’t there anymore. Statues can’t simply walk away. Or can they?

I am a consultant for this project, making sure he doesn’t write something completely off about our profession while giving him enough artistic license to make it still a fun read for the public (Read: I infodump him with long explanations about loan agreements and condition reporting and he then writes “it’s on loan”.). I’ll keep you posted when it is out.

What else is going on? In February I will do my course on Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections for Museum Study LLC https://www.museumstudy.com/managing-previously-unmanaged-collections and there are still seats available. I am looking forward to Collective Imagination, Gallery Systems’ user conference which this time around is “at home” in Berlin and where I will do a few workshops and presentations https://ci.gallerysystems.com/. Otherwise, I am trying not to be too pessimistic about the future, which gets increasingly hard to do, given the current state of the world. But I am trying to focus on the good things and our profession and the sense of community I feel whenever I get a chance to meet some of you is definitely among those.

Have a good start into the New Year 2025!

Angela

Announcements

Registrar Trek goes Roma and other news from a busy autumn

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Ah, autumn. The leaves are falling, the days get shorter, little kids stand you up at your own front door, demanding sweets to protect your house from harm, just like tradition dictates. And, oh, yes, flocks of registrars, collections managers, and documentation specialists travel all over the world to hold their secret – or not so secret – gatherings. ‘Tis the season!

I am just back from a trip to St. Pölten, Vienna, and Berlin and am preparing to head out to Zürich and Rome. I am looking forward to reconnect with familiar faces and get to know new ones at the European Registrars Conference. If you attend there, too, just say “hi”. I am happy to chat with you.

Street art, graffiti, a lion faces you. It has a punk style mane in Jamaican colors green, yellow and red and wears green glasses. It wears an "urban jungle" necklace and caption left reads "Sei stark" (be strong) and "Bleib sauber" (stay clean)
Street art in Berlin, metro station Kottbusser Tor. Found the artist on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urban_artists_berlin/

In other news, the Second Edition of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections is on its way. I just did the index, always the thing that has to wait until all the proofreading and typesetting is done. I can promise you it is looking promising: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538190630/Managing-Previously-Unmanaged-Collections-A-Practical-Guide-for-Museums-Second-Edition

If you are interested in what is new, you can catch me talking about the book online for Museum Studies LLC on Tuesday November 19 at 9 pm Continental Europe, 8 pm U.K., 3 pm Eastern, 2 pm Central, 1 pm Mountain, Noon Pacific, 11 am Alaska, 10 am Hawaii, Wednesday 9 am New Zealand, Wednesday 7 am Australian Eastern. You can register by writing to Webinar@MuseumStudy.com 

I hope you are enjoying spooky season and perhaps we see each other, soon!

Angela

Announcements

Let’s Talk Unmanaged Collections

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The new edition of “Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections” is in the making but not done. In fact, this post finds me bowed over my revising notes and frantically typing in all I have missed last time.

Time to open up the conversation, show you what I have done so far and comparing notes with you, the readers of the first edition, students from my courses, or just people generally interested in the topic.

Time for you to grab the keys – or the mike!

Calico cat grabbing computer keyboard

Join the free online talk!

Museum Study will host a free Unmanaged Collections Talk on Tuesday December 19 at 9 pm Continental Europe, 8 pm U.K., 3 pm Eastern North America, 2 pm Central, 1 pm Mountain, Noon Pacific, 11 am Alaska, 10 am Hawaii, Wednesday December 20 9 am New Zealand, Wednesday 7 am Australian Eastern.

How can you register for it?

Simple. Just send an email to Webinar@MuseumStudy.com

You have a question or idea but don’t want to join or speak at the event

No problem. Just comment on here or email me at angela.kipp@museumsprojekte.de


#unmanagedcollections #wheredoIstart #neglectedcollections #registrartrek

Announcements

Registrar Trek goes Washington D.C.

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Fall is the season for conferences and this year I will be at Gallery System’s Collective Imagination in Washington D.C. from November 13 to 17. I am excited to meet a lot of registrars, collections managers, and other people involved in museum documentation there. Of course, I will speak about managing previously unmanaged collections, this time about how to tackle them if you are using TMS. If you attend as well, drop by and say “hi”. If you don’t attend but are in the area and like to meet for a coffee, drop me a line. I can’t promise it will work out, but I will be around on the weekends before and after the conference to get to know the city, so it might.

See you there!

Angela

View on the Capitol and the city of Washington by day from a heightened position.
The Capitol and the city of Washington, image by 12019 via pixabay.
Announcements, Articles

EODEM – It is here! But why should I care?

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EODEM 1.0, the Exhibition Object Data Exchange Model, was officially released on September 1st. But why should you, a registrar, be excited about those five letters? Isn’t it just another standard in a museum world that doesn’t lack standards – but is short of people, money, time, and, every so often, the institutional buy-in to enforce those standards?

Well, first of all, it isn’t a standard: it is an exchange model. That’s right, this isn’t something that will force you to restructure your data – although, seriously, there are good reasons to do so while you are at it, and EODEM itself is defined as a profile of the LIDO standard. EODEM is something that will enable you to exchange the data you already have about your objects with other colleagues. Something you most likely already do when you are lending, borrowing, and/or co-operating with other institutions for exhibitions.

So the tedious task of typing data from a spreadsheet or email you received from another institution could become a thing of the past with EODEM! If it is implemented, you can just import the EODEM file your colleague sent you and the information will appear in exactly the fields in your database where you need them to be. It doesn’t matter what collections management system your colleague uses. If one system can create an EODEM file from its data, you will be able to import that EODEM file in whatever system you are using!

Logo of the Exhibition Object Data Exchange Model, yellow letters EODEM with an arrow pointing from the E through the O and another coming from the M
EODEM logo

There is one big if, though: just because EODEM is out doesn’t mean it is already in your collections management system. The good news: EODEM was developed together with vendors, so, right from the start, this model was built in a way that should make it easy to implement it in most collections management systems. The bad news? Vendors of collections management systems are not big software companies, just as the museum field isn’t a big industry. So, there isn’t an armada of developers idly waiting for EODEM to be ready for them to bring it into their systems. Instead, EODEM is competing with a lot of other things to be implemented, developed, and/or fixed.

And guess what? That’s where you come in.

The more users of a particular collections management system ask their vendor about when EODEM will be available to them, the more likely it will be to get a top spot on the roadmap. So, what you, yes, you, the only registrar on staff, the loan arranger, the museum professional who wears far too many hats, can do to export and import your exhibition data with a click of a button in the future, is simply to ask your vendor when you will see that option in your own database.

Nagging someone until they finally do it just because it is easier than saying “no” or “we will see about that” to you every single time sounds familiar to you? Ha! Thought so! It is basically the job description of a registrar. Which means, you will get EODEM if you put your mind to it.

You got this!

Angela

Learn more about EODEM:

All about EODEM on the CIDOC website:

EODEM

EODEM specifications and samples:

EODEM – Specifications and samples

Rupert Shepherd keeps you up to date with the development on his personal website:

EODEM update 8 – launch
Announcements, Book: Unmanaged Collections

Update on 2nd edition of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections – and Registrar Trek goes Aberdeen!

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Bild von <a href="https://pixabay.com/de/users/jmclellon-23686126/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=7146389">Jamie McLennan</a> auf <a href="https://pixabay.com/de//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=7146389">Pixabay</a>
Aberdeen South Breakwater Head Lighthouse (built 1815), picture by Jamie McLennan via Pixabay

Just a short update: Work on the next edition of “Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections” has begun. I start with doing a complete read-through, marking passages that are outdated, clumsily worded (I often used “he or she” which will now become “they”, for example), or could use a bit more clarification. If you have found something along these lines, please, let me know, a second pair of eyes is always best.

I have found a few colleagues willing to contribute real world examples and success stories, but I could still use a few examples from indigenous collections (preferably taken care of by people who have ties to the nations involved, but not a must) and digital collections.

If you happen to know someone who happens to know someone who knows someone… please spread the word!

In other news, I will be visiting Aberdeen at the beginning of September, doing my own version of work and travel – I will train a client and do some sightseeing and hiking in between. I am excited because the city itself and Aberdeenshire were still missing on my map! If you happen to live in the area and would like to get together over a coffee or a tea and some collections management chit-chat, drop me a line.

Stay hydrated, healthy, and happy, everyone.

Angela

Announcements

The times they are a-changing

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Calico cat grabbing computer keyboardAs a former collections manager it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that if you leave a blog mainly unattended for nearly 4 years it gathers dust. Well, not real dust, more… virtual dust?

Google discontinued its RSS subscription management service and it took me a while to discover that the updates weren’t delivered via mail anymore, so you might have missed my post asking about what you missed in Managing Previous Unmanaged Collections and what should be incorporated in the next edition.

After some research, I found a Feedburner alternative in follow.it. So, if you receive updates from a different service, now, it is because of that. I hope it works well, if it doesn’t, please let me know.

The next thing that has been on my to-do list for years was finding a theme that works well on mobile devices. This was rather time-consuming and I lost the language-sensitive header and some of the look-and-feel in the process, but I hope this one works well for you. Feedback about it is also appreciated.

Finally, I will probably not be as active as I was a few years back, too many things have changed, but this blog is still around, so if you got interesting stories or articles concerning our profession to share, please, get in touch!

Take care!

Angela