Alex Dawson, Collections TrustOpen CultureSPECTRUM Roadmap meetingJune 7th

Looking back……….

• 1991 work started• 1994 SPECTRUM First edition• 1997 SPECTRUM 2 • 2005 SPECTRUM 3 • 2007 SPECTRUM 3.1• 2009 SPECTRUM 3.2• 2011 SPECTRUM 4

So, what is SPECTRUM?

• A specification/standard maintained and published by the Collections Trust

• A consensus … collections management procedures and information

• Consistency, accountability, a common language• Not prescriptive – “what” not “how”• Widely applicable• Today – over 5,000 licences in 100 countries.

Curatorial staff, collections managers, increasingly education and exhibition staff, software suppliers (SPECTRUM Partners Scheme)

So, what is SPECTRUM?

• 21 procedures describing collections management activity in museums, with accompanying Units of Information.

• 8 Primary Procedures• Published in the same publication –

Procedures and Information Requirements• Supporting fact sheets published on

Collections Link - application of SPECTRUM

SPECTRUM – some milestones

• Linked to Accreditation via the Primary Procedures

• A clear link between Procedure and Policy• Rights Management Procedure• Use of Collections Procedure • User Generated Content – Revisiting

Collections• SPECTRUM Knowledge

SPECTRUM 3.2….

• Each procedure contained a large amount of “advisory” (how) text, some specialist

• Procedural text sometimes buried • Repetition – throughout the procedures• Sources of Help and Advice - continually out

of date legal/ethical references• Format needed to change

SPECTRUM 4.0

• Two separate publications; SPECTRUM 4.0 and Appendix 1

• A free download from Collections Link, or at cost from Collections Link shop www.collectionslink.org.uk

• Available under licence for non-commercial use, or under separate licence for commercial use

SPECTRUM 4.0

• Format not content:

– SPECTRUM 4.0 – advisory content removed and procedures represented as workflow diagrams

– Appendix 1, Information Requirements – no change

• resisted tweaking in SPECTRUM 4.0

• SPECTRUM Advice – one for each of the PPs, Sources of Help and Advice, single Glossary – all on CL

The Collections Link Standards wiki http://standards.collectionslink.org.uk

SPECTRUM 5.0 review and development model

• Release a new edition every 2 years• Hold the current version as a beta on the

Standards wiki, and ask for contributions via the wiki

• Consultation roadmap meeting at Open Culture every year

• Issue the revised roadmap after OC meeting• Consultation with a core group on the wiki,

and with the wider group of licensed users

Looking forward

• Easier to use and adapt within museums• Easier to update and simplify existing

procedures• Easier to add new procedures – have a

framework• More efficient mechanism to maintain and

develop – the wiki

The roadmap workshops

Looking towards SPECTRUM 5.0……..- What needs to be changed in existing

SPECTRUM Procedures? - How can SPECTRUM be developed further to

produce SPECTRUM 5.0?- What support structures are needed?