We already outsource collections care through a practice called “loans.” I propose we lean into this concept.
Key Points
Define “Outsourcing”
Loans as off-site storage
Outsourcing storage to cheaper regions
Loans as a decentralized storage
Investopedia defines “outsourcing” in the following way:
Outsourcing is the business practice of hiring a party outside a company to perform services and create goods that traditionally were performed in-house by the company's own employees and staff. Outsourcing is a practice usually undertaken by companies as a cost-cutting measure. As such, it can affect a wide range of jobs, ranging from customer support to manufacturing to the back office.
My point in discussing third parties and outsourcing originates from the idea that collections continue to grow but the staff maintaining them does not necessarily grow accordingly. We will have to manage more objects and achieve the same level of collections care with the same or fewer resources, an idea espoused by John Simmons.
As the need for physical space to store these objects grows, we face the challenge of funding those spaces. I want to explore the possibility of various loaning methods as a way to outsource object “storage”. I provide these ideas to spur creativity on the matter and not necessarily as fully-developed ideas on their own.
The basic concept already exists. “Museum A” engages in a multi-year renovation and decides to send a large portion of its collection on a long-term loan or to multiple venues until they complete the project. That institution will store, display, and care for the objects during that tenure as part of the terms of the loan contract. As a result, they reduce the cost of storage and care during that period (this, of course, assumes they would have to pay for additional storage during the time).
This arrangement has the potential to flood the pool of available objects for museums to loan – a real boon for exhibitions.
Consider, also, placing off-site storage in cheaper areas over a long period of time and making objects available for loans from there. This could make loaning them more accessible and economical by placing them closer to potential borrowers. I have heard rumblings of this happening already, actually. Naturally, the cost of this storage must offset the cost of transportation, but you either achieve cheaper storage costs by outsourcing or no storage costs by making it easier/cheaper to loan.
A more radical option still, loan objects only one-way or “decentralize” storage. This means that at the end of a loan period, we store the objects in a nearby facility instead of returning them to the loaning institution (clearly, for long-distance loans). In other words, we do not “centralize” our objects around our storage facilities. As a result, the cost of loans drops dramatically due to decreased travel costs (one-way versus round-trip travel). Thus, we distribute their storage according to where objects travel for loans. Yes, we pay for off-site storage and distribute storage potentially all over the world, but we might still have to pay for it anyway if we store locally. We can subsidize this off-site storage cost with a higher loan fee that still does not make the loan inaccessible because logistics are significantly cheaper.
All of these ideas assume that the outsourced care meets the high standard set by the lender or owner. They also assume demand for the objects in the first place. However, by implementing these practices, one also increases the demand for support services which will subsequently improve and reduce their cost. Demand for objects and the services to facilitate the loans proves viability and increases the practice. A win for everyone.
I see these ideas primarily as thought excercises aimed at reexamining our loan practices and provoking new ideas about how we manage collections. I know that as they are, they can be problematic, but I would love to hear your feedback below about how some concepts could work better or how you have already incorporated elements of them.
If we can manage to make outsourced storage and collections care standard practice, we can begin to manage more with less. In this current climate of reduced budgets and increased workloads, our institutions unapologetically challenge us to do this.
Lastly, I do understand that collections stewards typically do not make final decisions on where to send exhibitions, but they can propose and advise on this concept from a logistics perspective and convince by demonstrating the cost and environmental benefits at no sacrifice to care.
