Disposing of items from your collection
From Our Toolkit
Often it is thought that once an item enter a museum or archive collection they will be kept forever. However, disposal from collections when carried in a structured, ethical, accountable and transparent way can be a healthy activity to ensure that collections remain focused and relevant.
Museum approach
The Museums Association’s campaign information on The ethics of disposals outlines the contexts in which museum disposals can be carried out. They detail useful resources including their Disposals toolkit and also case studies from museums who pursued financially motivated disposals.
Spectrum lays out the information required for your policies and procedures in the Deaccessioning and disposals section.
Archive approach
The National Archives’ De-accessioning and disposal guide provides guidance on what constitutes proper and improper disposal from an archive collection. It explains the risks in disposing from an archive collection as well as covering the following areas:
- the regulations to consider when disposing
- the principles for de-accessioning and disposals
- a framework and procedures for de-accessioning and disposals
Accreditation standards relating to collection review and rationalisation
It is best practice as a collection holder to have a defined mechanism for the identifying of material and written procedures for collection rationalisation that meets the following requirements:
- Museum Accreditation: 4.2 A policy, approved by the governing body, for developing collections, including acquisitions and disposals. This is outlined in the Museum Accreditation Guidance on page 45.
- Archive Accreditation: 2.2 Collection Development as outlined in the Archive Accreditation Guidance on page 40.