A Collections Management System (CMS), sometimes called a Collections Information System, is software used by the collections staff of a collecting institution or by individual private collectors and collecting hobbyists or enthusiasts to manage collection objects. Collecting institutions are primarily museums and archives and cover a very broad range from huge, international institutions, to very small or niche-specialty institutions such as local historical museums and preservation societies. Secondarily, libraries and galleries are also collecting institutions. Collections Management Systems (CMSs) allow individuals or collecting institutions to organize, control, and manage their collections' objects by “tracking all information related to and about” those objects. In larger institutions, the CMS may be used by collections staff such as registrars, collections managers, and curators to record information such as object locations, provenance, curatorial information, conservation reports, professional appraisals, and exhibition histories. All of this recorded information is then also accessed and used by other institutional departments such as “education, membership, accounting, and administration."Quigley, Suzanne; Sully, Perian (2010). Computerized Systems. In Rebecca A. Buck; Jean Allman Gilmore (Eds.), MRM5: Museum Registration Methods (5th ed.), p. 161. Washington, DC: AAM Press: American Association of Museums.
Though early Collections Management Systems were cataloging databases, essentially digital versions of card catalogs, more recent and advanced systems are being used to improve communication between museum staff and to automate and manage collections-based tasks and workflows. Collections Management Systems are also used to provide access to information about an institution's collections and objects to academic researchers, institutional volunteers, and the public, increasingly through online methods.
Development and history of collections management systems Ever since machine-readable standards were developed for libraries in the 1960s, museums have had an interest in utilizing computers to record information about their collections. However, museums have very different needs from libraries; while bibliographic information about a library collection object is usually static, museum records are ever-changing because of the continuous need for new information about museum objects to be added to the records.Carpinone, Elana C. (May 2010), Museum Collection Management Systems: One Size Does NOT Fit All , p. 11. Retrieved 5 December 2015. As early as 1967, the Museum Computer Network (MCN), an informal group of New York museums, attempted to create a collections management database called GRIPHOS, and at a Metropolitan Museum of Art and IBM conference in 1968, speakers discussed current and proposed projects to automate collections management.Sully, Perian (8 July 2006). Inventory, Access, Interpretation: The Evolution of Museum Collection Software . John F. Kennedy University, pp. 23-24. Retrieved 19 November 2015. In an effort to coordinate research into developing these systems, professional associations such as the Museum Data Bank Coordinating Committee (MDBCC), formed in 1972, were created to disseminate information about computers and databases to museums interested implementing computerized collections systems.Sully, Perian (8 July 2006). Inventory, Access, Interpretation: The Evolution of Museum Collection Software . John F. Kennedy University, p. 29. Retrieved 19 November 2015. During the 1980s, Collections Management Systems became more advanced with the rise of relational databases that “[relate] each piece of data to every other piece,"Reibel, Daniel B. (2008). Computers. In ‘’Registration Methods for the Small Museum’’ (4th ed.), p. 126. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press. and during this time some of today's popular systems were originally developed for specific institutions “based on generic relational databases” — such as Gallery Systems' The Museum System for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Re:discovery Software's Proficio for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation's Monticello — before being released as commercial products.Carpinone, Elana C. (May 2010), Museum Collection Management Systems: One Size Does NOT Fit All , p. 19. Retrieved 5 December 2015. During the 1990s, with computers becoming faster and cheaper and with the rise of the Internet, collections management software became much more sophisticated, able to “present images, sort information in any one of a myriad of configurations, record exhibition information, track locations, and interface with a museum Website."Sully, Perian (8 July 2006). Inventory, Access, Interpretation: The Evolution of Museum Collection Software . John F. Kennedy University, p. 40. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
Though the goal during the 1960s was to use computers for collections record-keeping for purposes of accountability, MCN Executive Director Everett Ellin warned that museum professionals should include public access as a goal because it would “not be worth the effort if museums only create a glorified record-keeping system."Sully, Perian (8 July 2006). Inventory, Access, Interpretation: The Evolution of Museum Collection Software . John F. Kennedy University, p. 26. Retrieved 19 November 2015. Collections Management Systems have become crucial tools in increasing public access to collections information, expanding the types of information that are recorded. What was once “a simple tool for collections care and inventory” has become “a robust and powerful instrument for saving all information about museum objects," including interpretive material, digital objects, and digital surrogates. Since some Collections Management Systems now incorporate Digital Asset Management and content information storage, many museum professionals have started to use the acronym CMS to stand for “Content Management System."Sully, Perian (8 July 2006). Inventory, Access, Interpretation: The Evolution of Museum Collection Software . John F. Kennedy University, p. 3. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
Information managed in collections management systems In 1997, art historian and museum information studies consultant Robert A. Baron outlined the requirements for Collections Management Systems, not as a list of the kinds of collections object information that should be recorded, but rather as a list of collections activities such as administration, loan, exhibition, preservation, and retrieval,Swank, Annamaria Poma (September 2008). Collections Management Systems, p. 15. Retrieved 15 November 2015. tasks that museums had been responsible for long before the invention of computers, and many modern Collections Management Systems go beyond cataloging by aiding in the management of these processes and workflows.Schmitt, Bob (10 October 2014). Collection Management Systems. Retrieved 15 November 2015 The Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) Collections Management Software Criteria Checklist (CMSCC), which aims to be a comprehensive list of the kinds of information that a museum may want to record in a CMS, organizes that list by processes and actions rather than type of information. The checklist “outlines a number of features commonly included in a commercial CMS, which can assist a museum in determining which features have priority.”Canadian Heritage Information Network (2012). . Retrieved 28 February 2020
Object entry Managing and documenting information and tasks related to objects entering the museum, including acquisition or loan records, receipts, record of the reason for the deposit of the object, and record of the object's return to its owner.
Acquisition The management and documentation of objects added to the institution's collection, including accession numbers, catalog numbers, object name or title, acquisition date, acquisition method, and transfer of title. There are many different accession numbering systems, and a CMS should allow an institution to use its existing numbering system.Carpinone, Elana C. (May 2010), Museum Collection Management Systems: One Size Does NOT Fit All , p. 26. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
Inventory control Identification of objects for which the institution has a legal responsibility, including loaned objects and objects that have not been accessioned. Information recorded includes object location and status.
Location and movement control Records of an object's current and past locations within the institution's premises so that it can be located, including dates of movement and authorizations for movement.
Catalog description Information that describes and identifies objects, including creator/maker/artist, date(s) of creation, place of creation, provenance, object history, research on the object, and connections to other objects.
Conservation management The management of information about an object's conservation “from a curatorial and collections management perspective," including conservation requests, examination records, condition reports, records of preventative actions, and treatment histories.Canadian Heritage Information Network (2012). . Retrieved 28 February 2020
Risk management
Management of information about potential threats to collections objects, including documentation of specific threats, records of preventative measures, disaster plans and procedures, and emergency contacts.
Insurance management and valuation control
Documentation of insurance needs for objects for which the institution is responsible (included loaned objects) as well as the monetary value of objects for insurance purposes. This may include the names and contact information of appraisers as well as appraisal history.
Exhibition management Management of an object's exhibition or display, including exhibition history and documentation of research done on an object for an exhibition. More advanced Collections Management Systems may have the ability to present information from the system on a museum's website or in an online exhibit.
Dispatch/shipping/transport Management of objects leaving the institution's premises and being transferred to a different location, including location information, packing notes, crate dimensions, authorizations, customs information and documenting the means of transportation (including courier information).Carpinone, Elana C. (May 2010), Museum Collection Management Systems: One Size Does NOT Fit All , p. 26. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
Loaning and borrowing
Managing the temporary transfer of responsibility of an object from the museum to another institution or vice versa, including loan agreements, loan history, records of costs and payments, packing lists, venue information, facilities reports, and records of overdue loans.
Deaccessioning and disposal Management and documentation of objects being deaccessioned and leaving the institution's collection, either by transfer, sale, exchange, or destruction/loss, including transfer of title, records of approval, and reason for disposal.Canadian Heritage Information Network (2012). . Retrieved 28 February 2020
Features of collections management systems
Functionality