Connecting to Collections Care

Hi all, this may be a bit off topic for collections care, but what does everyone do with their guest register after it is full? Do you keep the original? Digitize it? give it an accession number? and what should we do with the information gathered? 

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Alana Dunn
Museum Director
Eagle Museum of History and Preservation
Eagle, Idaho
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Hi Alana,

This is an interesting question, and one that we haven't answered at our library either. One of our exhibition galleries has kept guest books for many years, and there are several full ones in storage. They haven't been accessioned and it seems unlikely that they will be in the future, same for digitization, but it's also unlikely that they will be discarded.

In addition to replies from others here in C2CC, I'd be curious to see what responses you would get from the American Alliance of Museums Open Forum. The Guest registers thread discusses what data is collected and how it can be used, though it doesn't really get at what you're asking about the physical object. Digital vs Physical Guestbooks also doesn't answer your question, but does bring up some related issues that may help to think about it, including format and what type of information has been collected.

I'd also wonder what expectations visitors have when they sign the register, and how we as staff could communicate to them how long the information will be kept and in what contexts it will be available. Hopefully others will also share their practices on this topic!

Thank you,

Rebecca

Hi all, this may be a bit off topic for collections care, but what does everyone do with their guest register after it is full? Do you keep the original? Digitize it? give it an accession number? and what should we do with the information gathered? 

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Alana Dunn
Museum Director
Eagle Museum of History and Preservation
Eagle, Idaho
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