Guidelines for collections policies and mission statements (2015)

The goal of a collections policy and mission statement is to give a collection a specific, individual written framework for action. They give direction to the management of and work with handling a collection, both in the present and in the future.  

Collections policies have a primarily inward effect (i.e. within the organisation), whereas mission statements are intended to have a primarily outward effect (i.e. outside of the organisation). They can form a single logical unit, but in the following sections they are considered separately because they differ in their scope and target groups. 

Quality Criteria for University Collections (2014)

In its 2011 Recommendations on Scientific Collections as Research Infrastructures, the Wissenschaftsrat (German Council of Science and Humanities) identified a lack of assessment criteria for university collections and suggested that these should be developed. Such criteria would contribute to assessing collections qualitatively and, where necessary, enable appropriate measures to improve collections.

The quality criteria presented here were developed in October 2012 at a joint workshop of the Coordination Centre for University Collections in Germany and representatives of German collections who are currently active at university level. Thus they are based on the expertise and experience of key players in the university collections network.

Status Determination of University Collections (2014)

The status determination of university collections serves to determine the current state of your collection or collections. It has been designed as an aid for formulating statements about the relevance of the collection(s), and on their usability and utilization. A status determination is essential to create a collection concept.

The catalogue of questions presented here was formulated at a workshop of the Coordination Centre for University Collections in Germany in collaboration with representatives of German collections who are currently active at university level.