• Provide Performance Indicators (PIs) in collections management
• Quality assessment in collections management
• Advanced training in collections management

Present and future access to European natural history collections will be optimized by meeting common standards of condition, management and availability of specimens and associated data. The aim of NA2 will be to significantly reduce the potential barriers to future access by identifying the current standard of European collections and targeting key areas for improvement. Training, improved access to expert advice and the development of procedures for maximising use of current resources will achieve this aim. Products of NA2 will ensure maximum interoperability of standards, benchmarks and performance measures throughout the European natural history research community and beyond.

Through the creation and use of an online self assessment form, NA2 will engage institutions not assessed in SYNTHESYS FPVI. The combined results will give a clear and in-depth picture of the state of collections in Europe, assist in increasing accessibility and findings will be used to inform the content of subsequent SYNTHESYS training courses.

Performance Indicators

A set of PIs will be designed that reflect the activities of collections management and related policies. The traditional measures, such as numbers of loans, are limited in their value for determining genuine change or attainment of a benchmark. They will be designed to allow institutions to create their own subset of indicators for internal management.

NA2 will feed in best practices from different fields of science to promote a broader use of the PIs developed. Current practices in collections management will be analysed and compared with other industries that manage large numbers of objects and data. A workshop will be held to permit a two-way exchange of ideas and new methods will be sought to improve workflows and processes to maximise the efficient use of staff time and other resources.

Develop a Web-based self-assessment process

An online self- assessment tool has been developed based on the collections benchmarks developed in the pervious SYNTHESYS project. This allows institutions to self-assess at institutional and departmental level. In order to ensure survey consistency, an efficient audit system has been developed to validate the results of the self- assessments.
Click here to access the self assessment form

Raise collections management standards and encourage best-practice in European institutions

The results of all the assessments will be used to provide “help packages” to assist institutions in raising collection standards. These will consist of case studies and practical advice will be provided to the Collections Standards Group.

The Collections Standards Group will be initiated to provide advice and to review all aspects of collections management, with the aim of transferring results to a wide community. This will be via the specially designed EUCOM website.

Develop an EU-wide set of competencies for collections management

Competencies will be developed in association with requirements defined in the EDIT project. These will be a set of personal attributes, including skills and knowledge, which are a measure of staff performance. Uptake of these competencies will improve performance, and promote staff training and mobility within European institutions.

Advanced training in collections management

Currently there are few staff within Europe that can provide training in collections management. NA2 will train key individuals to run collections management courses nationally or regionally.

Training courses will be provided for collections managers and users so that resultant improvements can be made to collections and sustained beyond the life of the project. These courses will be broken down into specific modules. See events for details.

Click here for details of the training courses that are available.

The self assessment tool is complete and ready for use. Click here.

Trainng courses are be available from October 2011. Click here.

Draft Performanace Indicators have been developed and will be available soon.

A collections managers website (EUCOM) is being developed and will be launched late 2011

The self assessment tool is now ready for use. Click here.

Draft Performanace Indicators have been developed and will be available soon.

Training courses are underway. click here

A collections managers website (EUCOM) is being developed and will be launched late 2011

Training course: Train the trainer - Methods in collection management training. 24-25 Oct 2011. NHM, London.

Training course: Effective collections emergency planning and salvage. 31 Oct-4 Nov (exact dates tbc). RMCA, Tervuren.

Training course: Access to collections. Dates & location tbc

Training course: Molecular collections. Dates & location tbc

For details on how to apply for training course, click here.

If you are interested in completing a self-assessment please click here

If you are interested in becoming a “trainer” please contract synthesys@nhm.ac.uk.