ABSTRACT
As museums move more of their programming into digital space, effective program delivery will be enabled by an integrated information management strategy that views collections documentation as an asset: a key, collectionrelated resource that forms an integral part of the value and appreciation of collections themselves and supports the ability of the museum to fulfill its mission. Investments in interpretation will be leveraged and re-used, as part of the institution’s knowledge of its collection rather than created and cast off when the temporal context for their initial use passes. Museum professionals, in all parts of the institution, contribute to this developing corporate memory, building institutional knowledge as part of the cultural trust of the museum. Providing public access to this knowledge, through exhibition, publication, and reference, and conserving it for future generations, is emerging as a key ethical responsibility of museum work. Curating collections knowledge requires an acknowledgment of a multiplicity of information sources, inside and outside the institution, each of which contributes to a developing understanding.
