Collections at the Heart: Collections Support Programmes

1. Collections Trust Online Briefings 

Collections Trust are delivering a regular programme of free introductory one-hour briefings on the main primary Spectrum procedures.

Held approximately once a fortnight throughout the year, the briefings cover the basics of each procedure. Museums and individuals can use these introductions in different ways in their own collections management practice and development, from induction and training to addressing Accreditation Areas for Development around the Spectrum procedures.

The briefings are open to all but booking is required. Details of upcoming sessions are here. Keep checking back as more sessions are added throughout the year.

2. Getting Your House in Order 2026-27

Knowing what you have, where it is and who owns it is essential for accountability for collections held in trust for the public.

Many museums are facing major change, including local government reorganisation, large-scale store moves and wider shifts in how museums and collections are governed and operated. These changes make strong collections management processes and procedures more important than ever.

How well suited are your current documentation policies and procedures to support your strategic aims? Collections documentation should do more than meet basic requirements. As museums work to become more accessible and inclusive, open up collections and share new stories with new audiences, it’s essential to have the right foundations in place.

Using the framework of Spectrum 5.1 and its procedures, this series of workshops will focus on the planning and work required for museums to get their collections documentation in order.

Led by staff at Collections Trust, these online workshops are for staff and volunteers from museums in the North of England which are Accredited or formally working towards Accreditation and who directly work with collections and documentation in their day-to-day role or who manage the staff and volunteers that do.

For trustees and senior managers, Collections Trust has resources on accountability to help those who may not apply the Spectrum standard in their day-to-day role to understand the standard and the primary procedures required by Museum Accreditation.

Workshop programme  

All sessions will be held on Zoom

Each workshop is 2 hours long with a short comfort break

1.Object entry – dealing with unsolicited donations – for more information and to book visit here

2. Inventory and documentation planning – for more information and to book visit here

3. Audit

4. Security of collections information

3. It’s already here so we’ll keep it – Improving Object Entry Procedures  

This programme, run jointly between Museum Development North and Collections Trust in summer 2026, uses the Spectrum procedures to consider how museums deal with unplanned object donations, discouraging unsolicited donations, and knowing how to deal with them if they do arrive.

The donations may be unexpected but knowing how best to deal with them responsibly can be planned.

2026 cohort applications are now closed. Full details of the programme are here.