Information Center

Customized research assistance and a collection of over 1,000 documents of sample policies, plans and forms from museums of all types and sizes.

Continuum of Excellence

Learn about steps you can take toward excellence.

The Bookstore

The most informative and authoritative professional literature on every aspect of museum operations. 

Collections Stewardship

National standards and best practices are voluntary benchmarks against which museums measure their own performance. They also help policy makers, media, phil­anthropic organizations, donors and mem­bers of the public to assess museums’ achievements. The Alliance shares standards on Collections Stewardship.

Collections Management

This section has information about access to collections (including digitization); acquisitions & accessioning; appraisals; cataloging (including collections management software); categories of collections; couriering; deaccessioning; inventories; loans; marking; old loans and objects found in collections; packing, moving & shipping; and writing a collections management policy.

Collections Planning

This section provides resources to assist museums with writing and implementing a collections plan.

Collections Care

This section has information on collections care by type, condition reporting, conservation treatment, historic preservation, planning, preventive care, storage and handling.

Ethical and Legal Collections Issues

This section addresses access to collections records; ownership and protection of cultural and natural resources; rights and reproductions; and tax issues.