Location Sampling

Undertaken each quarter for quality control.

On return to our buildings following Covid-19 lock-down, coinciding with all the changes to location authorities and general movement of materials via retrieval, digitisation and exhibition workflows, we thought it would be good to undertake a planned location sample. We wanted assurances that inventory location data was accurate and reconciled to locations recorded in Sierra.

A location sample of 50 items was first carried out on 23 March 2022, with half the material planned/determined from the database, and half the material being checked/selected in situ to see if this reconciled with the database. The sample included items in the solander, drawer and plan chest stores and locations were checked physically as well as on Sierra and Quickbase to ensure locations matched.

We determined, that if more than 10% of items were Not In Place (NIP), in the next quarter we would look to double the sample size. If less than 10% of items were NIP then we would conduct another sample in the next quarter with the same size sample of 50 items.

A location sample, which is a practical tool for collections management and improving location control, would also mimic an exercise sometimes carried out in a Museum Accreditation visit.

Each quarter we complete a location sample and report results in our quarterly reports.

Half the sample from the database is created by the Collections Auditor - across all the stores where inventory has been completed or is in progress. This sample is mostly random, but also factors in works that have been reported as moved by a third party. The sample is allocated/split between the team.

Link to location sample folder: https://wellcomecloud.sharepoint.com/:f:/r/sites/wc2/cr/ci/Inventory/Visual%20%26%20material%20culture/Location%20Control/Location_Sampling?csf=1&web=1&e=9pC68I

Link to quarterly reports with sample findings: https://wellcomecloud.sharepoint.com/:f:/r/sites/wc2/cr/ci/Inventory/Visual%20%26%20material%20culture/KPIs/Quarterly%20Visual%20Inventory%20Reports?csf=1&web=1&e=d3YQ5E