“After five years you can consider a project as grown-up.” This was more or less how the moderator at the conference of the documentation group of the Deutscher Museumsbund (German Museum Association) phrased it when I gave a talk about our project. In many regards, I think that’s right. But on the other hand, it makes me want to sing with Tom Waits (or with the Ramones, if you prefer that version): “I don’t wanna grow up!” I hope we will never lose the curiosity to try and learn new things and I hope we will never become so serious that there isn’t a place for a good laugh even in our most professional articles.

This year we covered a wide range of very recent aspects of our profession, from rapid response collecting to cataloging smartphone apps. In general, we expanded our range from the classical collection management topics to more aspects of museum documentation. This is a good thing as documentation is the foundation of everything we do. However, because we want to keep our blogging well-rounded, I’m planning to launch a series about “Registrar’s Tools”, where we talk about our favorite tools and toys. You are very welcome to contribute with texts, pictures and thoughts about the tools you like best.

As a project, this year I hope we can attract some new translators. Many who started with us five years ago have now taken up such demanding roles that they can’t contribute anymore. This doesn’t come as a surprise, because people who are willing to volunteer in a project about their profession show exactly the mindset and dedication that is sought after by museums. So, I do hope that we will find new volunteers that fill the blog with the missing translations.

And of course, I hope that many will find the time to sit down and write the story or that article about an aspect of our profession they always wanted to write about. As always, send them to story@museumsprojekte.de

Now, let’s start into this New Year 2018 and may it be a good one!

Angela