How to Reorganise a Collection While Moving It: Implementing Computer Tools for Relocation Planning and Virtual Reorganisation

Abstract Relocating museum collections involves many challenges, but also provides a unique opportunity for extensive reorganisation, which further complicate the task. Common approaches to both moving and reorganising tend to be empirical, linear and coarse-grained. This limits their usefulness for planning long-term and detailed facility moves. However, issues ranging from space estimation, storage design, reorganisation and relocation all point to a unified solution. Our proposal is a custom computer tool that aims to describe, analyse and virtually manipulate an entire storage setting. With its current implementation in Excel Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), staff at the Ethnographic Museum of Geneva (MEG) planned the exact physical integration of the collection (75,000 objects) into the new storage furniture, months ahead of the move, adapting to new constraints along the way, and eventually reorganising the collection while moving it. A simple visualisation interface presents the data in a relatable way, while analysis functions help with decisions. Multiple storage scenarios were explored to fit pre-installed furniture. Storage bays could be prepared in advance, optimising move time and budget. Data collected before and after the move shows that, in some areas, virtual reorganisation provided up to half of the final available usable storage height (+43.2 m). Moreover, small scattered excess spaces could be regrouped and allocated where required. Useful storage space acquired through new furniture was strategically placed. Although it evolved in a specific context, the generality of our solution makes it relevant and transposable to other institutions and other purposes, and points to a more integrated view of collection management.