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Training
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Online Museum Classes
Description:
Collection inventories are vital to collection management and security. You need to know what is in your collection to be able to manage it well. This means regular inventories must occur. But knowing you must do them and actually having the time and manpower to complete an inventory are two different things. Collection Inventories discusses everything you ever wanted to know about collection inventories. From how to set one up to how to conduct an inventory. Other topics include what to look for during an inventory and how to reconcile the information.
Course Outline:
Why are Collection Inventories important?
Collection Management
Collection Security
Preparing for an Inventory
Preparing The Museum
Preparing Staff: Who Will Do the Inventory?
Compiling Data and Supplies
Conducting an Inventory
Where to Begin
What to Look for During an Inventory
Reconciling an Inventory: What do you do when the inventory is done?
Fixing Problems
Processing "Leftovers"
When Should You Do It Again?
Logistics:
Participants in Collection Inventories work through sections on their own. Instructor Peggy Schaller is available for scheduled email support. Materials and resources include online literature, slide lectures and dialog between students and online chats led by the instructor. The course is limited to 20 participants.
Collection Inventories runs four weeks. To reserve a spot in the course, please pay at http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html If you have trouble please contact Helen Alten at helen@collectioncare.org
Student Comments for MS218: Collection Inventories:
I liked: a. Assignments were fun b. Chats were informative c. Lots of emails that had good suggestions-seemed like more emails that the other classes-I guess a good mix of people and museums. I have enjoyed each online course-hope to take another one next year. Peggy your emails were helpful-I think people this time emailed more than the other classes. I liked that. I liked the variety of museums represented.
Exceptional. All of the classes I have taken from NSCC have been valuable to me and the work I do in my museum. If my count is correct, this is my tenth online class - all from NSCC. Peggy, I think you did a very good job.
I had numerous classes in graduate school with online components or that were strictly online. I have preferred the more straightforward layout offered at Northern States Conservation Center to those I had in graduate school.
Absolutely a 10. I really enjoyed the class and getting to know Peggy and all of my fellow students through forums and discussions.
It delineated the difference between an inventory project and a cataloging project. I think it will help our institution narrow our current project to fit the greatest need.
There was just enough reading material to provide the information needed but not too much to overwhelm. I liked the handling instructions for each different type of artifact museums might encounter. I plan on providing it to new interns and staff as a concise introduction or reminder.
I enjoyed the chats. Hearing other people who have the same goals and challenges state the case of inventory vs. inventory/cataloging really made it sink in that our institution is overreaching our current need and should scale back the current project.
Thanks for offering the course. Keep up the good work.
It was good fact-based material, presented in a succinct and useful way. I printed much of it out for future reference.
I liked the course and found it extremely useful. Peggy was an excellent instructor, offering encouragement and helpful hints, and managing the chats gracefully.
The course material was extremely thorough and will be an excellent guide and resource as we continue to plan our inventory project. I really thought the forum and chat sessions were helpful, its nice to hear that other institutions are facing the same problems. It was very thought provoking to hear how they solve their problems and to try to apply their solutions to our situation. The assignments were very effective exercises in applying the concepts introduced in the course.
I really liked the class chats. After the first one I felt like I had made great connections with the others in the class even though we had never met.
It actually exceeded my expectations. I have been having such an issue with the inventory here that I just had hope that this would work. But I feel that I actually have a game plan now. I have a logical set of steps that will work even for a collection as far behind as mine. It's been a great relief to me to know that this can be done and done in one lifetime.
The Instructor:
Peggy Schaller, founded Collections Research for Museums in 1991 to provide cataloging, collection-management training and services. She has worked with a large variety of museums and collections for more than 18 years. Peggy, who lives in Denver, Colorado, has a bachelor's degree in anthropology with minors in art history and geology from the University of Arizona in Tucson. She has a master's degree in anthropology with a minor in museum studies from the University of Colorado in Boulder and is a Certified Institutional Protection Manager II. She provides workshops and project services to museums and historical societies all across the country. The mission of Collections Research for Museums is to inspire museums to improve their professional standards, collections stewardship and service to their constituency through training in, and assistance with, documenting, preserving, protecting and managing their collections.
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