All museums have them. All registrars lose sleep over them. A collections backlog - boxes of objects to accession and collections to catalog. Years of mystery just waiting to be unraveled! Sometimes the backlog is so large that we don’t know where to begin. CatalogIt can help you catch up with your backlog so you can document and track your collections with ease.
The hardest part is coming up with a plan. This article takes you through a simple process to help make it a little less daunting.
What you need
- Your mobile phone or tablet with the CatalogIt app loaded and ready
- File folders
- Post-it notes
- Pencils (always use pencils when working near collections)
- Lots of coffee (but not near the collections!)
Getting Organized
Your backlog can take up a lot of space in many of your collections storage, processing, and office areas. The first step of this project is to identify the locations of all of these items. If possible, consolidate them to one area - select a specific room or bank of cabinets or shelving to temporarily house all boxes of this backlog.
Next, armed with your Post-it notes and pencil, go shelf to shelf, box to box, looking for any paperwork, including gift agreements, temporary custody forms, invoices, or any correspondence related to the acquisition. If the paperwork is elsewhere (in the registrar’s or curator's office), match the paperwork up with the objects.
Put the paperwork for the acquisition in a file folder and place a Post-it on the outside of the box labeled “Paperwork, curator’s office” (or something to that effect) to help you match the paperwork to objects later. Write the physical location of the box/collection on the folder with the paperwork. Some may prefer to leave the paperwork with the box rather than separate it from the collection, however I prefer putting everything into folders so the paperwork can be reviewed and prioritized at my desk.
Once you have gone through all the boxes and shelves, you are ready to prioritize the backlog and begin documentation.
Prioritizing the Backlog
There are a few schools of thought on how to start this step, however it is important to prioritize in the way that makes the most sense for your institution. Many like to go from shelf to shelf, room to room, and document things in order. Others prefer to go through the files and select the items you are more likely to use first (perhaps in an exhibition or for your researchers). You may also want to start with the more fragile items, or items that require conservation or immediate preparation. For purposes of this article, I am choosing to document the collections box by box, shelf by shelf. Along with getting through the documentation, it allows you to put these items in storage and clear out your processing areas to empty large sections of storage at once.
Documenting the Backlog
Now is where the fun begins. For the purposes of this article, I am going to run through the documentation process one room at a time, rack by rack, shelf by shelf. Start by selecting the accession you would like to tackle first. Since you have already organized the paperwork, it should be simple to find the file associated with this accession. Take out the paperwork and your mobile phone or tablet and select the first accession in your backlog that you want to document. There are two quick ways to start:
- If this is an accession with one or a few items, go ahead and create your accession record, then accession each entry as you normally would, making sure to take a photograph of the paperwork and include it in the accession. Image the work(s), catalog fully, number, and put away in your storage area. Accessions of one or two objects can be cataloged quickly in CatalogIt. Once you complete the first accession, move on to the next and you are on your way to clear up the pile.
- Often museum backlogs consist of accessions that contain many objects - anywhere from 3 to more than 100. More often than not, backlogs are composed of these large groups since they are more time-consuming to accession, image, catalog, and put away. These large accessions lend themselves well to “group accessioning” where you enter the accession and a general description of the accession, but not the individual entries. By doing this you are able to clear out your processing area, document the items you have custody of, and flag the accession so you or your volunteers or interns can go back and individually image and catalog each item.
How to Group Accession in CatalogIt
As museum professionals, we all have lots of things to do in a short amount of time. While ideally we would be able to document each item in our collection within the same calendar year we accepted it into the collection, that is not always possible. Often these larger collections are set aside for many years, adding to the growing stack of collections taking up room on all of our work tables, temporary collections shelving, and carts. These are the times that call for group accessioning.
As with any accession, start with matching up your paperwork with the collection. Review all the legal paperwork, including gift agreements, purchase agreements, trust documents, etc. Make sure that the group of objects you have in front of you matches this paperwork. For example, a large collection may be described as “7 boxes of Gold Rush Era artifacts”. Make sure you have 7 boxes and that it appears to match the description.
When accessioning a group of items, start by selecting “Accession” from the “Profiles” menu:
Click on the “+” in the upper right corner to create a new accession. CatalogIt will default to the next chronological accession. For example, in 2022, it may default to “2022.6” for the 6th accession of 2022. Follow your museum's policy on how to number this accession. Some museums will use a number that corresponds with the calendar year that a gift was accepted and is written on a fully executed gift agreement. For example, if the gift was accepted in 2009, your museum may choose to use the next consecutive number from 2009. Other policies state that the museum uses the year that the accession was documented - the current year. Ensure your accession number is consistent with your policy.
Continue entering all the details related to this accession. When group accessioning, be as specific as you can in the “Description” field. For this group of Gold Rush artifacts, do a quick review of the boxes, counting items, describing types of objects, and how they are packed. For example: “Gift of seven boxes of Gold Rush Era artifacts including 2 shovels, 3 assay scales, one small bag of gold dust, one pair of metal rimmed glasses, 7 plates, one opium pipe, and 2 small boxes of assorted glass bottles.”
Fill out the other fields as completely you would any other accession. When you get to “Status” indicate that the accession is “In Process”:
This will allow you to later search on all accessions “In Process” and one by one, complete the cataloging process.
The key to this process is to photograph the paperwork and the group of items. Using your mobile device, photograph all of your paperwork and upload those images into your record. Also photograph the collection, making sure to capture the inside of each box, details of select groups of objects, close-ups of signatures, and any condition issues. You are able to upload as many images and documents as you would like to your Accession record profile.
This is also the time for you to do a quick condition survey of the items in the group. You may want to repack a few items more safely while they are awaiting final documentation, swap out the packing materials the donor sent it in with archival tissue and foam, etc. Use the “General Notes” field to quickly outline the condition and flag any issues that will need attention sooner rather than later. You can also use the “General Notes” field to document the storage location while it is awaiting final documentation and storage:
File the accession folder in a stand-up file or file drawer with other “In-Process” collections for ease of retrieval and research. The drawback to group accessioning is that, since you are not completing an entry record, the objects you document in this way will not be searchable with the rest of your collection. This process is merely a tool to allow you to organize your project so that you can fully document everything to make them searchable and findable in the future. A simple, but not perfect, workaround for this is to create one entry record, with group images, attached to this accession which includes a description of all the items in this group, along with search terms, nomenclature, and linking profiles. This entry can act as a “Master Record” for the entire collection and can be deleted once you have all of the collection cataloged at the item-level.
Group Accessioning is a simple way to quickly get through the initial documentation of your backlog and allows you to put away items that are in process. Noting the status as “In Process” allows you to easily find these collections so you can have an intern, volunteer, or staff complete the cataloging in the future when time permits. This time saver can help you organize your processing areas, survey your backlog, and set up ready-to-go volunteer collections projects.