Case Study Participant 5

1. What would you say are the soft skills or attributes and types of knowledge that are necessary for getting started with decolonisation in a role that is similar to yours? 

Research skills to identify the existing knowledge.  Synthesis skills to pull together disparate existing resources and a wide range of examples and procedures. The ability to write procedure that builds on existing procedures but fits particular in-house circumstances.  A strong degree of empathy is needed to identify where decolonisation/ empathetic cataloguing is necessary, especially when the cataloguer does not identify with the communities in question. 

2. Please give examples of where soft skills and personal attributes have proven useful to you during any stage of collection-based decolonisation.

Developing procedures for our institution’s ethical cataloguing guidelines required extensive research into existing procedures at other institutions, synthesising a wide range of existing approaches, guidelines and research into a process that works for our institution and writing a set of clear guidelines that were clear and comprehensive enough for day to day use while flexible enough to be used more widely (e.g. for potential use in cataloguing challenging language surrounding disability, sexuality etc).  Also involves talking and communication skills when sharing procedures with colleagues but also discussing the procedures with funders who are unclear of the benefits of decolonisation/ ethical cataloguing. Also empathy to identify points where ethical cataloguing may be needed, especially for identities not shared by the cataloguer.  there is also a degree of specialist cataloguing knowledge and understanding to work out how to implement the recommendations (for example altering catalogue templates to create content warnings etc). 

3. How can someone starting out in a similar role get an introduction to collection-based decolonisation and develop a basic skill-set/ knowledge/ awareness? What can this process entail? Please suggest any resources and approaches. 

Much knowledge exists and can be shared (for example the Collections Trust has a set of resources, also the Cultural Heritage Terminology Network). When building my skillset/ knowledge base, I attended Collections Trust trainings and talks given by archival and heritage institutions that had started doing similar work – including trainings by the RLUK and the South West Museum Fed. In general I would advise wide background reading into issues of decolonisation/ reparative or ethical cataloguing and then more specifically narrowing down to existing guidance/ case studies on ethical cataloguing in other institutions.  I would also advise wide reading in general, particularly reading own-voices authors from a wide range of communities to allow empathy and diverse perspectives.

4. How does an advanced collection-based decolonisation skillset/ expert knowledge look like from your perspective (including soft and specialised skills)?

I would consider that collection-based decolonisation is never really ‘expert’ – language continually changes and the types of collections that need rebalancing shift depending on what issues/ identities are being reconsidered.  I would also consider that there is a risk that as soon as someone considers themself ‘expert’ then they cease to continue to work and learn and empathise. Decolonisation or rebalancing collection description is, and should be, a constant process as our knowledge and understanding evolves.   

5. How can someone in a similar role further develop their skills/ knowledge/ awareness in collection-based decolonisation and build an expert skill-set? What can this process entail? Please suggest any resources and approaches. 

I think that all that is needed to develop skills and knowledge in collection-based decolonisation is a willingness to learn and read and time to undertake that reading and research. I would say that it is hard to build expert skills as this is an area that I think does not lend itself to ‘expertise’ – all there is is someone further along the journey but still willing to learn. I think additional knowledge comes from wide reading not only around the issues of decolonisation but also wide reading from the communities whose voices are being rebalanced to provide more nuanced perspectives and understanding. I would suggest that existing Cultural Heritage networks (e.g. the Collections Trust, the Museums Association, the Cultural Heritage Terminology Network etc) all provide extensive reading lists and resource lists associated with decolonising collections which can provide a starting point. Some cultural heritage institutions (Bristol Museum and Archives/ Bristol Culture, the Keep in Sussex etc) have been very generous in sharing information about their processes and procedures more generally which can be useful as case studies. 

6. Please add any other thoughts or advice you may have for those who want to develop their skills and knowledge in collection-based decolonisation. 

I think the most useful advice I can give is to not be afraid to start the work of rebalancing collections and also not to be afraid of the scale of the work because in both cases, even a small step forward is a step forward. I would also say don’t forget that this is always a learning process; language changes, language evolves so don’t think the work is completely ‘done’ because then we stop doing the work but also don’t be discouraged because we are always trying to do better. I always tell people we are using a ‘conservation’ approach to ethical cataloguing – we document the changes we make as we go along and we don’t make changes that we can’t unmake in a few years when techniques, methods or even language have improved. Also remember that you are not alone – everyone has to start from a place of learning and we are in an incredibly generous profession where people are willing to share their expertise, knowledge and even their working methods.