I have been meaning to update my various research reference and resource lists, but I am very aware they can be quite dry and even overwhelming if you are short on time and brain power.

Also, in the light of the endless requests for answers, toolkits and solutions to sort out the persistent iniquities and problems of collections information, cultural heritage datafication and knowledge production, it might be useful to have a quick look at what is going on out there, because there are people doing the work, but they don’t always get the notice they deserve and the people that need the toolkits don’t always know about them. So here are some of my top recent-ish picks…

Artists legacies in the Museum – toolkit

This impressive online resource ‘aims to generate greater and more nuanced visibility for the legacies of Black British Artists in UK institutions’. To do this the team, curators Lauren Craig, Tosin Adeosun and Alinta Sara have done a deep dive into the key questions around responsibility, engagement and representation when addressing the lives, works and archives of Black British artists. They step the reader through the processes and practices of the work, while keeping care and transparency in focus as their central tenets. The toolkit addresses both personal, professional and institutional concerns and includes a set of reflective exercises which encourage the asking of the right questions to navigate towards a goal of more equitable and ethicial archiving practice. If you want talk to and with artists, this project provides an excellent way in.

People Centred Cataloguing

This beautifully designed document by Kathleen Lawther is the cataloguing guide we all want and need. Written by someone with extensive cataloguing experience – by which I mean she has actually done the hours, days, months of meticulously describing and recording information about objects – so she actually gets it. At the same time Lawther identifies and tackles head on, and without handwringing, many of the issues that prevent change in the way we produce collections information. She describes the problems clearly and guides the reader through the process of addressing them in the record. It’s well referenced with useful links and sources and her case studies are pertinent and relatable. She navigates through with calm directness. People Centred Cataloguing should be at the top of any reading list for training museum professionals.

Museum of Truth and Lies

Yasmin Khan’s Museum of Truth and Lies project involves a number of different elements to entertain and engage with ideas of truth telling (or not) in museums today. The online Muse-Zine ‘a playbook for truth-telling in Museums’ – describes the project and introduces the podcast series where she interviews a variety of curators, academics, artists and activists on the notion of truth in the museum. These conversations are fascinating and wide ranging, and are beautifully produced making listening a pleasure, even when the issues are contentious. In the main an unobtrusive interviewer, who draws out very honest reflections from her subjects, which occasionally verge on the entertainingly indiscrete, the interviews are at their best when we hear from Yasmin herself. The Muse-Zine also includes her really useful acronym: WISDOM: 6 pillars of truth-telling in museums​ , a diagnostic for truth telling, Snakes and Ladders (with a twist) and a set of WISDOM playing cards – all amusing ways in to a complicated subject.