You cannot manage what you have not documented. Documentation is the systematic recording of what an institution holds, where it is, what condition it is in, and what is known about it. It is the backbone of accountability, security, research access and disaster recovery - and increasingly it is what makes heritage discoverable online.

Good documentation is built on shared standards so that records are consistent internally and interoperable externally.

Inventory and accession control

Two disciplines underpin everything else:

  • Accessioning - the formal, legal act of taking an item into the collection, assigning a unique identifier and recording provenance and terms of acquisition.
  • Inventory - the periodic, auditable check that every recorded item is physically present and correctly located. An unlocatable object is, for management purposes, a lost one.

Descriptive standards

Different domains use different but converging standards. Knowing which to apply is core practice:

  • Spectrum - the widely adopted museum collections-management standard defining core procedures such as object entry, location and movement control.
  • ISAD(G) and EAD - hierarchical archival description and its XML encoding for archives.
  • Dublin Core - a simple, cross-domain metadata set for resource discovery.
  • CIDOC CRM - an ontology for integrating cultural-heritage information across systems.
  • Records in Contexts (RiC) - the ICA's modern, graph-based archival description standard.
In practice. Adopt persistent unique identifiers and controlled vocabularies (for names, places and subjects) from day one. Free-text fields feel faster but wreck searchability; an authority file for creators prevents the same person appearing under five spellings across your catalogue.

Records management context

For institutional and documentary heritage, records-management standards apply: ISO 15489 defines principles for authentic, reliable records, while ISO 16175 guides management of digital records. These ensure that the metadata proving authenticity and provenance travels with the record throughout its life.

Key takeaways

  • Accessioning gives legal control; regular inventory gives physical and locational assurance.
  • Use the right descriptive standard for the domain - Spectrum, ISAD(G)/EAD, Dublin Core, CIDOC CRM or RiC.
  • Unique identifiers and controlled vocabularies are non-negotiable for long-term findability.

Check your understanding

Last modified: Saturday, 1 August 2026, 11:03 AM