Aspiring To Do It All

ID: WMA2026_541

Track: Collections

Do you feel pressure to do it all? Museum staff often face large, complex projects when preserving collections held in public trust. Small museums with limited staff and tight budgets must make difficult choices when they cannot complete every task. Larger institutions, despite greater resources, may still struggle to prioritize and allocate time and funding effectively. In many cases, collections staff carry the burden of trying to do everything. This discussion-based session shares strategies to use resources wisely and challenges the expectation of doing it all.

Session Information

Format: Regular session/panel (roundtable, single speaker, etc.)

Uniqueness: Our session will provide professionals an opportunity to share and learn from each other. Case studies will be utilized to highlight success stories.

Objectives:

1. Identify common challenges museum staff face when managing large-scale projects, or even keeping up with day-to-day needs, with limited staff, time, and funding. Identifying common challenges can help museum professionals feel seen, heard, and that they are not alone in feeling overwhelmed. 
2. Share and learn about practical strategies to prioritize tasks, allocate staff time and funding effectively, and leverage strengths to find success, even with overwhelming projects. 
3. Evaluate and challenge the expectation that museum staff working in collections should be able to “do it all” by sharing more sustainable approaches to collections stewardship.

Engagement: In this session, we intend to introduce the topic with a powerpoint, and pose a few open-ended questions to give participants the ability to share their own resources and experiences in smaller groups. We will then convene at the end to share the key take-aways and important findings of each group. For this session, we will need a projector/powerpoint, microphone, and chairs that can be moved into small groups.

Relationship to Theme:

Audience

Audiences: Registrars, Collections Managers 

Professional Level: All levels 

Scalability: Regardless of a museum’s size or focus, collections caretakers can relate to the feeling of needing to “do it all.” This session is not limited to any one type of institution, and will benefit from diverse perspectives from professionals across different museum sizes, types, and experience levels.

Participants