Beyond the Shelf: Inventory for Advocacy, Accessibility, and Stewardship

ID: WMA2026_595

Track: Collections

Inventory is crucial for stewardship, but it can be daunting. Learn to transform your collection inventory from a compliance task into a strategic tool for advocacy, accessibility, and institutional leverage. Four collections stewards from municipal, county, and state organizations will share practical, scalable processes and successful outcomes for initiating or refining your own inventory project.

Session Information

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

Uniqueness: By combining municipal, county and state museum experiences, this session provides a layered perspective on conducting an inventory for different types of collections.

Objectives:

The objectives and potential learning outcomes of this session are designed to move attendees from being overwhelmed by inventory to being equipped to use it as a foundational strategic tool in their organizations.

1. Reframe Inventory for Advocacy and Stewardship: Attendees will learn how to strategically position their collection inventory data as a powerful tool for institutional advocacy and improved stewardship. By connecting collection knowledge to key organizational priorities, attendees will be able to justify resources for inventory projects and inspire action within their organizations.
2. Acquire Scalable Inventory Processes: Participants will gain practical, adaptable, and manageable tasks for initiating or refining their inventory processes, regardless of the size or type of their collecting organization. The session will present layered perspectives from municipal, county, and state museum collection stewards, providing concrete examples of overcoming common obstacles and achieving successful outcomes.
3. Unlock Collections for Engagement and Research: Attendees will walk away with actionable ideas for leveraging their completed or ongoing inventory data to enhance exhibition development, provide new research opportunities, and dramatically improve collection accessibility for their community and stakeholders. This outcome inspires participants to transform inventory from a compliance task into a public-facing asset.

Engagement: The session will begin with an interactive poll on inventory challenges. Each presenter will deliver a PowerPoint presentation to explain how their organization has managed inventory, overcome obstacles, and achieved benefits. A Q&A session will follow the presentations to give attendees a chance to ask specific questions that were not addressed earlier.

Relationship to Theme:

Audience

Audiences: Curators/Scientists/Historians Registrars, Collections Managers 

Professional Level: All levels 

Scalability: Understanding the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of starting an inventory project gives focus and meaning to this daunting task- for any collecting organization. We want to provide practical, adaptable, and manageable tasks that can be applied to initiating or refining inventory processes, regardless of the size or type of the collecting organization. The session achieves wide scalability by presenting a layered perspective on inventory processes.

Participants