ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with traditional methods developed for cultural heritage institutions and how they can be adapted to serve the unique needs of time-based media (TBM) collections. It then provide guidelines for planning and executing institutional assessments and collection surveys, along with implementing recommendations in the final report. A TBM institutional assessment guides an organization toward developing strategies for improved care and display of TBM artworks. The assessment helps staff focus efforts on the immediate needs of the collection, such as obtaining master-quality files or backing up artist-provided materials, as well as achieve longer-term goals, such as establishing permanent staff positions, creating a TBM conservation lab, or building a digital repository. A registration and cataloging review for TBM artworks verifies that the institution owns all the components that are necessary to preserve and display the works and that these components are consistently cataloged in the institution’s collection management system and tracked with locations.
