New report on ‘finding aids’ highlights difficulties for museums
A new report from the Research Information Network has just been released, about the quality of ‘finding aids’ for researchers wishing to gain access to museum catalogues and objects.
The CBA was on the expert panel for this study, which found that museums face increasing difficulties in providing the levels of support for research and scholarship, but that there’s great scope for developing collaboration between museums, galleries and the research community which would bring benefits to both.
“We want museums to get as much information out there as possible, so it is online in what ever format – it doesn’t matter about tidying it up or just putting up the bare minimum.”
The Research Information Network’s (RIN) new report Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs investigates how researchers discover and gain access to physical objects and artefacts and focuses on the current issues for museums and their staff in providing the facilities researchers need. The report gives a unique overview of the current situation in the UK and provides a range of recommendations for museums and their supporting organisations, such as Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), Collections Trust and the Museums Association. The report and a summary are available at www.rin.ac.uk/objects
The traditional role of museums centres on the acquisition, conservation, curation and exhibition of objects and artefacts. Many museums have grown from private collections built up by scholars, and therefore research and scholarship has been fundamental to their mission. Academic researchers have been among the primary users of museums and curators have often been scholars in their chosen fields.
For museums, in recent years, new elements have been added to this role and, for many, their priorities have changed. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) makes no reference to research or scholarship in its four priority areas for museums; widening participation and visitor development have become increasingly important in recent years. There is a renewed interest in object-based research within the academic community and access to museum objects is extremely important.
For many museums however, academic researchers - who do not contribute significantly to visitor numbers - are not now viewed as a key target audience. The report investigates these issues in more detail and focuses on:
- the availability, scope and quality of finding aids to enable researchers across a range of disciplines to discover information about collections of physical objects and artefacts of relevance to their research,
- barriers to the search process, and,
- the use and perceptions of existing finding aids and discovery services by researchers, including any key gaps in coverage or scope.
The RIN will hold a follow up event to this report in the Spring of 2009 to investigate these issues further and discuss ways to address the recommendations made - more details will be available on the website soon.
Contact:
Sarah Gentleman – Communications Officer - Research Information Network
Email Sarah Gentleman or tel 020 7412 7241
Visit www.rin.ac.uk
