Simplify Exhibit Tracking With Automated Museum Inventory Management

Exhibits take years to put together, from choosing a theme to the dates of the show. Museum curators are busy all year round and have many slow-moving parts to track for multiple exhibits. Trying to do this without a system in place will result in lost pieces. The best-case scenario is that part of the show can be redesigned. The worst case is that it has to be canceled altogether, and your museum loses hard-earned credibility.

Pen and paper systems are also cumbersome, especially when all of the pieces are always in motion. A cloud-based system will let you see the process of each item daily, and help you address problems right when they happen, instead of at the last minute.

Aspects of Exhibit Tracking That Can Easily Be Simplified

Exhibit tracking isn’t just a one and done deal. The entire process can take several years from beginning research until the end of the exhibit.

Piece Acquisition

Museums have one of two main ways to acquire pieces for their exhibits. Gifts from all around the world and purchases.

Many museums have recurring donors that can help them acquire pieces for any number of their shows. Others are one time donors that don’t come back.

But donors aren’t able to cover all of a museum’s needs. Sometimes, there are pieces they need to acquire that can only be done through a request or purchase.

Storage

Another aspect of exhibit tracking is storing the pieces until they’re ready to put up on display. Displays, artifacts, and paintings will arrive at different times. There’s simply no way to get them all in your museum at once.

You need storage options to keep your acquisitions safe. However, you also need access to them when putting your display and marketing efforts together. Implementing an inventory management system connected to your exhibit tracking database will help you and your staff know exactly where a piece is at any given time. You can check on the section, take it out for photos, and factor it into your display specifications whenever you need it.

Display Options

Once you’ve got all the items on hand for the collection you’re planning to put together, you can begin assembling the museum’s display. Your cloud-based inventory management tracking system can also be a great place to include where each item is going to be on each array. That way, you don’t have to be present for every aspect of assembling the displays.

Delegating work like this means that you can put more time into the copy explaining the piece and its importance in the display. You can also spend more time working with the marketing team in understanding what’s appealing about the exhibition so that people will come and partake in the exhibit you’ve put together.

Packing Away Exhibits

Once the show dates have passed, it’s time to take down the exhibit to make room for something new. Putting the display away could take as long, or longer, than assembling it if not done correctly. If you haven’t been tracking your efforts up to this point, it can take a long time to track down where each of these pieces need to go.

However, with a seamless tracking solution, you can pull up the item record on your database, figure out where you need to send it, and send it there. If the item is yours to keep, your team can then decide what to do with it.

Asset Panda’s accessible inventory management platform can help you execute your exhibits more smoothly and automate much of the work involved. After all, your museum is likely a non-profit and doesn't have a huge budget to acquire displays. Make the most of it by using our highly customizable platform to track donors and vendors, as well as personnel efforts.