The nature of museum collections management work means there is always a next task or major project. For the majority of museum staff, there is always much more to do than time available.
Recently, we explored How to Create Time for Effective Collections Management Work and Ways to Protect Your Time for Collections Management Work. Carving out and protecting time for collections management work are important first steps. Now it is time to consider additional strategies to make the most of your focus time.
This week, we will review how to batch museum collections management work so you can remain intentional with your time while also maximizing efficiency. Additionally, we will consider how the museum Collections Management System (CMS) can support batched collections management work—supercharging your impact.
What is Batch Work (or Batching)?
Batch work or batching is the act of thoughtfully assembling multiple tasks that can easily be worked on in tandem. For example: If you are entering additional inscription data for a set of objects, you can also enter or edit data for the objects’ conditions while you are in the records.
Performing both tasks at the same time eliminates the repeated actions that spin up and down the work, including but not limited to: gathering the data, signing into the CMS, and searching for and opening the objects’ records.
Why Batch Collections Management Tasks?
Batching collections management work can help save time on the repetitive tasks outlined above. There is an additional benefit to batching smaller tasks: it moves things to priority status and makes it easier to assign your pre-designated focus blocks for collections management work.
What Makes Sense to Batch?
Some tasks lend themselves more readily to batch work. Two main types of collections management work typically fit:
- Tasks that are small or take a short time but are otherwise hard to prioritize.
- Tasks that overlap or are easily combinable.
While these two examples are opposites in their form, both options require a dedicated window of focused time to successfully cross them off the to-do list.
Leveraging Your Collections Management System for Batch Work
The CMS is a tool primed for batch work. Not only does it help support the more analog nature of museum collections management work, but it also has functionality to support batch data work. The following batched data cleanup or enhancement tasks can leverage CMS functionality:
- Addressing missing data
- Removing data
- Moving data from one field to another
- Bulk updating vocabularies or exchanging one vocabulary for another
- Exporting/Importing data for mass entry or editing
Data cleanup can often feel overwhelming; however, we can complete powerful work with a solid CMS in place.
Leveraging the CMS Pro Tip: If you’re not familiar with CMS functionality—especially for batch work—reach out to your CMS vendor or tap into the product community for ideas.
Advice for Choosing Which Collections Management Work to Batch
Collections management work can look different at every museum, so it may take some experimentation to see which types of work make the most sense to batch. To get started, I recommend the following areas:
- Bundle like things together
- Identify areas of deep work
- Leverage the CMS
Ultimately, if it works for you, then it works! You may enjoy batching one area of collections management work over another, and that is OK. The key here is to leverage the concept of batching and use your focus time to get important work done without perpetual overwork.
Additional Reading: For insight on how to batch catalog museum objects, please see How to Batch Process Cataloging Museum Objects (February 2024) . Further tips for creating efficient workflows can be found in Museum Digital Project Sustainability Hacks (August 2022).
Preparation is Key
In this series, we have reviewed how to create and protect important focus time and how to make the most of your time by batching work and leveraging the museum CMS. Next week, we will wrap up our series with How to Prepare for Focused Collections Management Work.
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