Reflections: Working with Collections Trust — part 1

It has been a few months since working with the Collections Trust — the sector body for ensuring cataloguing standards are maintained and upheld within museums and heritage organisations that hold collections in trust for the public. My involvement with Collections Trust was mainly facilitation. I was invited to run a workshop on addressing gaps in knowledge within collections. And then asked to sit on a panel with other peers, with interests in the benefits of sharing collections data and information.

In this blog, I’ll be reflecting on learnings that emerged from my workshop (back in July 2023).

Rethinking catalguing discussion event listing, Collections Trust (2023)

I designed this workshop to offer space for staff, volunteers and members of the general public to collectively think about their experience of working with collections — within the context of approaching gaps in knowledge within collections. This facilitated discussions around what areas of support were needed to develop realistic and sustainable approaches to this conundrum, with an emphasis on peer knowledge sharing.

From the outset, I explained my approach to addressing gaps in knowledge within collections, to ensure participants had a clear understanding of my framework:

I’m a writer and researcher keen to continue conversations about how museums, galleries and cultural institutions are approaching gaps in knowledge within collections. For me, knowledge production is a vast area which has many entry points as well as hurdles, depending on your starting point(s). This acknowledgement of the uneven access and contribution to the process of knowledge production within arts, cultural and historical processes is central to understand before approaching gaps in knowledge in collections. I’m intrigued by the ways artists, community groups, curators and people in general are approaching knowledge production, which could lend itself to collections.

Next, I posed this opening provocation to participants: What initial thoughts come to mind when thinking about the term ‘gaps in knowledge? What do we mean by this?

Themes that emerged from this discussion ranged from:

• A lack of representation in collections
• Not knowing fundamental questions about the collection, such as ‘who, what, why, where, when, how’ of collections
• Regular reviews of stories being told — to questioning traditional narratives
• The distinction between ‘missing’ information and information that was unrecorded because it was not prioritised
• Slowing down the process of cataloguing
• Ring-fencing time to conduct contextual research about under-researched objects and stories within collections

With the above perspectives in mind, I briefly explained how museums, galleries and other cultural institutions (since their inception particularly from the West) have drawn from narrow pools of knowledge to make sense of collections held in trust for the public. This has inevitably led to many people, cultures and objects being described and interpreted as a result of biases, discrimination and other factors which hinder a truly reflective and holistic knowledge production process.

With this basis, I posed this provocation to participants: How can we even begin to start thinking about addressing gaps in knowledge within collections we care for?

Themes that arose from this discussion entailed:

• Identifying known gaps and questioning why, documenting information about sources used during the knowledge production process and contextualising documentation about collections more holistically
• Focusing on collecting contextual information at the point of acquiring (adding) new objects to collections
• Acknowledging the role of high staff turnover and short-term staff contracts which contribute to organisational knowledge loss
• Intending to connect information about collections to other sources (internally and externally, such as Wikimedia)
• Encouraging staff transparency and collaboration during the knowledge production processes within collections management systems

Practical suggestions for addressing gaps in knowledge within collections

• Setting expectations for artists and organisations loaning objects to embed research about objects, as part of this process / agreement
• Enacting policies to guide staff on the importance of conducting research about objects. As well as, using accountability frameworks to support sustainable completion and / or understanding of barriers to completion. For instance, a participant suggested the creation of a rapid research data entry screen could break down the research process into more manageable chunks, prompting more colleagues to do this work
• Facilitating remunerated time and space for carrying out research into under-researched or under-resourced objects or collections. For example, The Powerhouse in Australia, hosts annual temporary Research Fellowships to support research into different parts of the collection. However, I should caveat this programme does not currently fund salary or travel expenses, limiting who can afford to apply.
• Developing and establishing relationships outside of museums/ galleries/ cultural institutions to encourage exposure to other forms of knowledge. Organisations that have strong relationships within their communities come to my mind such as The Gap, Flock Together and Hospital Rooms.

I closed this discussion with two activities:

1. Reflecting on teachable moments through provocations: Who is the collection(s)/ the organisation you work for, talking to at present? How can you begin to interrogate more intentionally, where knowledge is drawn from and what other opportunities are possible to connect with other forms of knowledge?
2. Knowledge exchange in action: where colleagues were encouraged to share what approaches they had tried when addressing gaps in knowledge within collections and explaining what had been useful or unsuccessful.

In response to the second point, some participants focused on the collections management system itself — as a record of knowledge production about the collection. One participant explained their approach of centring their collections management system as the source of truth about the collections and ensuring everyone feels confident they can contribute to this endeavour.

I hope the practical suggestions (mainly shared by peers) offers sustainable starting points for museum practitioners to continue addressing gaps in knowledge within collections. Accountability and organisational support will be key to this…