1. What is the SPECTRUM Object exit Procedure?
2. The Object exit Procedure and Accreditation
3. Why is the Object exit procedure important?
4. When is the Object exit Procedure carried out?
5. What form should Object exit records take?
6. What happens during the Object exit Procedure?
7. Glossary
Object exit
SPECTRUM 4.0
defines 21 Procedures, each describing how objects are managed in museums.
The SPECTRUM Object exit procedure is one of those procedures, and is used to manage and record all objects leaving the museum’s premises. Object exit is a SPECTRUM Primary Procedure, which means that it is an essential component of a workable and efficient museum Documentation
System. The SPECTRUM Primary Procedures are:

Object entry

Loans in

Acquisition

Location and movement control

Cataloguing

Object exit

Loans out

Retrospective documentation
Museums use the SPECTRUM Standard to benchmark the effectiveness and efficiency of the collections management procedures.
This fact sheet explores how the Object exit procedure might work in your museum, and is aligned to the requirements of the Accreditation Scheme for Museums and Galleries in the UK .
You can also download the SPECTRUM Object exit Procedure, which includes a step by step workflow diagram taking you through the procedure, and describing what you might need to do at each step, and the information you might collect.
Documentation: a Practical Guide contains more information about the application of all of the SPECTRUM
Primary Procedures and can be bought from the Collections Trust Shop .
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Object exit
The Accreditation Scheme for Museums and Galleries in the UK requires that specific procedures, policies and plans are in place in your museum.
At a procedural level, it is a requirement of the Museum Accreditation Scheme that the SPECTRUM Primary Procedures , including the Object exit procedure, are in place in your museum, and that you describe how the procedures work in your museum in a Procedural Manual - see Accreditation Standard 2.7
. For the structure and content of a Procedural Manual - see Developing a Procedural Manual
The Accreditation Scheme also requires that your museum has written policies, or policy statements , in place, which state your museum’s policy regarding the management of the documentation of your collection. The policy required by Accreditation, which will impact on your Object exit procedure is:

Your Documentation Policy
– see
Accreditation Standard 2.3
. This policy will contain key statements about the way your museum manages the documentation of its collection, and with reference to Object exit should clearly state your museums policy on managing and documenting objects which leave your museum. This should include: o The circumstances under which objects leave the museum. These may be:
 outward loans
 disposal
 return of an object brought into the museum for identification
 return of an object brought into the museum as a possible donation o The person or people in your museum with authority to:
 Authorise the exit of objects from your museum
 Complete Object exit records
The Accreditation Scheme also requires that, if you have documentation backlogs, your museum has a
Documentation Plan to improve its collections documentation and documentation systems – see
Accreditation Standard 2.5
. This plan will state how you are going to remedy shortfalls in the quality of your
Documentation System, such as:

An Object exit procedure which falls short of the SPECTRUM standard
A Documentation Plan would not seek to recreate Object exit records in the same way that we might recreate catalogue or accession records as part of a backlog project, although it may seek to account for objects no longer in the museum, and record details in the catalogue record.
Lastly, Accreditation requires that you have an ‘ appropriate workforce for the museums responsibilities and plans’ – see Accreditation Standard 1.7
. With reference to the Object exit procedure and all of your collections management procedures, this requires that:

There is a clear understanding about roles and responsibilities in your museum – for Object exit this implies that roles and responsibilities are understood, and adhered to, throughout the museum, and are stated in policies and job descriptions.

There is a commitment to sustaining the skills required to support the Object exit procedure in training and induction
Find out more the Object exit procedure and Accreditation:

For policy requirements - see Accreditation Guidance Sheet 2: Collections Management Policies

For procedures and plans - see Accreditation Guidance Sheet 3: Procedures and Plans
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Object exit
Making sure that the Object exit procedure works well in your museum will ensure that you are able to account for all objects leaving your museum. SPECTRUM 4.0 lists the following Minimum Standard for
Object exit – if your Object exit procedure follows the SPECTRUM standard, it will:

Ensure that legal requirement s and the organisation’s policy are fulfilled when objects leave its premises.

Ensure that the organisation is able to account for the exit of all objects from its premises, including those which have been deposited as offers or for identification or loaned.
 Ensure that location information for accessioned objects leaving the organisation’s premises is maintained.

Ensure that all objects leave with appropriate authorization.

Ensure that a signature of acceptance from the recipient is always obtained when transferring custody of an object between parties. Where the first recipient is a courier it may also be necessary to get a signature from the person or organisation to which it is being delivered.
If your Object exit procedure does not achieve the above, or does not exist in your museum at all, you will have a situation where you are unable to account for all of the objects in your care. You may, for example, think an object has been stolen or mislaid, when in fact it is no longer in your museum building for an entirely legitimate reason.
Object exit
An Object exit record is created whenever an object leaves the museum. Objects leave the museum:

From the long term collections as, for example outward loans, disposals, or for conservation purposes.

After they have been brought into the museum by a member of the public as, for example, enquiries or for identification. They may also leave the museum if they have been offered as donations and are not wanted for the long term collections.
Object entry records are always created by an authorised person.
Object exit
Object exit forms .
Object exit forms are always used when objects from the museum’s long term collections leave the museum, for example as loans or for disposal. Object exit forms will vary from one museum to another; however, many museums use the Collections Trust Object entry form .
Object entry forms .
These can be used when an object, which has never becomes part of the museum’s long term collection is returned to its owner.
The object may have come into the museum for identification or as a possible donation. When you return the object to its owner you can use an Object entry form to obtain the owner’s signature to acknowledge return, and the form constitutes proof of the object leaving the museum. You do not fill out an Object exit form. If your museum uses the Collections Trust Object entry form there is a section on the form which is signed by the owner. See the SPECTRUM 4.0 Object entry procedure for more information.
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Object exit
In the case of an object from the long term collections leaving the museum:
Establish the reason for the object exit .
In the case of loan, follow the SPECTRUM Loans out procedure (also see Loans out fact sheet ); in the case of disposal follow the SPECTRUM Deaccession and disposal procedure . Ensure all records regarding the loan/disposal are up to date.
Organise agents, couriers and transport as required and record details.
Create a record to capture necessary information (ie an Object exit form) .
The following information should be collected for each dispatch:

Object

Brief description

Person responsible

Condition

Valuation if required for indemnity or insurance

Authorised signature of the organisation the object is leaving (or reference to signature, if a computer record)

Destination name, address and telephone number

Reason for exit

Signature of receiving officer/agent (or reference to signature, if a computer record)

Date of exit

Date of delivery

Anticipated return date and method (if relevant)
Notify security staff , staff or volunteers of the time and date of the exit. If appropriate, advise front of house staff, or volunteers of changes in display.
Ensure appropriate documentation accompanies the object. This includes the following:

A receipt for signature and return by recipient

The appropriate export and customs documents (for objects travelling overseas)

The appropriate insurance or indemnity documents

The unpacking instructions (where required)
Store exit records safely . If you are using the Collections Trust Object exit form:

The top copy is kept in an exit file

The second copy is given to the recipient

The third can be kept as backup.
The top copy file must be kept in a safe place as it serves as the museum’s master record. It should be annotated when a loan is returned to the museum.
After the object ’s arrival at its destination has been confirmed:

Request and record return of receipt from owner/recipient

Act immediately on any problems reported

Update inventory records

Update location records

Update insurance and indemnity records
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Accreditation Scheme for Museums and Galleries in the United Kingdom – Accreditation is the UK standard for museums and galleries. It defines good practice and identifies agreed standards, thereby encouraging development. It is a baseline quality standard that helps guide museums to be the best they can be, for current and future users.
Documentation System – all of the recorded information a museum holds about the objects in its care. This includes paper and digitised records of all kinds (e.g. registers, forms, committee minutes, curator’s files, and donor letters).
Collections Management System – an electronic database, often provided by a software supplier, which enables the user to record information about collections and their management, and forms part of the documentation system.
SPECTRUM 4.0
– SPECTRUM is the UK Collections Management Standard. It represents a common understanding of good practice for collections management in museums and contains detailed procedures for managing the different processes that an object goes through in its lifecycle in a museum. Find out more about SPECTRUM and the SPECTRUM Community .
SPECTRUM Primary Procedures
– the procedures that should be in place in a workable and accountable museum Documentation System. If the Primary Procedures are not in place, documentation backlogs will occur.
Documentation Backlogs – a term used in museums to describe undocumented or poorly documented collections. Your museum should have policy statements which define the standards expected for the documentation of your collections – most museums use the SPECTRUM Primary Procedures as a a standard against which to measure the quality of their Documentation System and records. If the Primary
Procedures are not in place there will be gaps, or backlogs, in the system and the information it carries
(e.g. object will not link up with records). Backlogs are tackled using the SPECTRUM Retrospective documentation Procedure.
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This fact sheet forms part of SPECTRUM Advice, a support pack which is published on Collections Link at www.collectionstrust.org.uk/spectrum/spectrum-advice-factsheets .
This fact sheet was updated in January 2015 with funding from Arts Council England , and aligned with the requirements of the Museum Accreditation Scheme.
The Collections Trust is the professional association for collections management. Established in 1977, it is a UKbased charity that works worldwide with museums, libraries, galleries and archives to improve the management and use of their collections. It does this by providing know-how, developing and promoting excellence, challenging existing practices, pioneering new ideas and bringing experts together.
The Collections Trust
WC 209, Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London, SW7 5BD
Company Registration No: 1300565 | Registered Charity No: 273984
+ 44 (0)20 7942 6080 office@collectionstrust.org.uk www.collectionstrust.org.uk