Counts

The counts process should answer three basic questions:

• What objects make up the collection?
• How many objects are there?
• Where are these objects located?

The advantage of this type of process is that, within a short time frame, and with few resources, you can clearly identify all the objects, count them, and determine their exact location (where they are or supposed to be found).

Each heritage institution should, at the very least, have such an inventory of its collections, since it is a basic requirement for fulfilling its mandate with respect to the management of public collections. Note, however, that the information that such a process generates is quite often too limited for the collections to be properly understood and promoted.