Optimising existing storage sounds fairly obvious really. Indeed, if you think about it in the literal sense, it is about making the best use of the space you have available for storage. However, there is a bit more to it than that because one must consider the reasons behind the need to optimise space in first place.
If the desire to optimise your store is largely due to the fact that in its present state it is disorganised and overcrowded, you probably need to think about planning and redesigning your store layout and you will find information about doing this on the planning section of the site.
Conversely, for many professionals working in museums and galleries, archives, or libraries, the need to optimise storage isn’t just about creating more space. Rather it is about making the best use of available space for a particular reason.
Museums, galleries and heritage collections are increasingly faced with the need to optimise their existing space to provide public access. The majority of funding bodies include this as one their main criteria and it is difficult to gain funding for a storage related project without taking public access into consideration.
Archives and Libraries tend to have a more systematic approach to space optimisation because their criteria is slightly different. For these institutions optimising space relates more to item retrieval and rotation and is based upon usage and popularity of items and the need for active, mid and deep storage of these.
Nevertheless, for most institutions no matter how carefully they plan, no matter what funding they receive there will usually come a time when it is necessary to retrofit current storage facilities to ensure they are providing the facility needed to care for and preserve collections for future generations.
This section of the site has been designed specifically to explore the need for storage optimisation and why shifting focus on public access means a new breed of the traditional museum repository is evolving.
Download our vcard