Loans Management at the Natural History Museum Dave Smith UK EMu Users Group Meeting th April 2007

Background Cultural Change at the NHM –Implementation of a single centralised Collections Management Database over 3 years- EMu –18 Collections Management Policies BUT Policy implementation 2 years too late….! –Procedures have only just been written.

Policies influencing Loans Management LOANS -Research -Exhibition Object Entry Exhibitions & Collections Valuation Control Insurance & Indemnity Destructive & Invasive Sampling Interventive Processes Location & Movement Control Dispatch & Object Exit Retrospective Documentation

Key changes Automation of loan status based on ‘trigger’ fields Approved borrower relationships within Party Module Managing diverse items involved in loan process Valuations of items sent/received on loan Managing the return of items on loan Loan Transfers

Loan Status Automatically changes depending on stage loan process has reached. Triggered by addition of dates to specific fields:- Creation date  “Open – Request” Approved date  “Open – Approved” Issued date  “Open – Processing” Dispatched date  “Open – Dispatched” Returned date  “Open – Returned” Closed date  “Closed”*

Approved Borrower Relationships “Only bona fide researchers (in permanent employment) will be granted approved borrower status.” Approved Borrower = signed up to terms and conditions for borrowing material Supervised Borrower = students, post docs, retired and honorary staff who request a loan through an approved borrower. Authorised Signatory = Head of Department / Museum Director/ Guarantor who signs on behalf of the borrowing institute.

Approved Borrower Relationships Requester Approved Borrower For use by Loans Module Student/ postdoc. Head of Dept/ Director Permanent researcher Exhibition designer Party Module Approved Borrower Loan Status Authorised Signatory None

Loan Agreement Status Approved Borrower Authorised Signatory Student 1 Student 2

The Loans Process Request Approval Prepare Dispatch Return

Request

Approval

Loan dates * * *

Loan dates -Extensions

Managing items Object Entry items on loan to NHM Items for which a single Catalogue record exists Items for which an Accession Catalogue record exists Items for which an Index Lot record exists Items which have no data in EMu

Managing items - Catalogued

Managing items – Un-Catalogued

Managing Returns *

Managing Valuations

Managing Transfer of items Best practice:- –All transfers managed as new loan. –All new borrowers must be Approved Borrowers.

Managing Transfer of items

Exhibitions

Dispatch of items *

Conclusion This was developed whilst second guessing at procedure. There may be some future changes depending on what the NHM decides is best practice and how much they differ from the flow built into EMu. As a loan manager myself, I have a vested interest in this development and I believe that these designs provide a great tool to be able to manage the loans process from request to final return of the items. It provides a good balance between ease of data entry, whilst observing best practice and being able to comprehensively document the loan, and the people involved, and track their status.

Conclusions Any suggestions from the audience……………

Questions?