Sammlungswesen

Sammlungswesen, often translated as collection management or collection development, is a discipline in library, archival, and museum sciences that concerns the professional planning, stewardship, and provision of access to a holding or collection. It encompasses the full lifecycle of holdings—from selection and acquisition, through description and cataloging, to preservation, storage, and eventual disposition. The aim is to support institutional missions and user needs while ensuring legal compliance and ethical stewardship.

Core activities include: selection and purchasing or receiving donations, recording provenance, and building a documented frame of reference; description and metadata creation; classification and cataloging; physical and environmental preservation; conservation; access provisioning through finding aids, catalogs, and digital repositories; digitization and digital preservation; rights management, licensing, and patron privacy. A formal collection development policy guides acquisitions, deselections, and risk management, balancing intellectual value, cultural significance, and budget.

In the digital era, Sammlungswesen also covers digital collections, metadata interoperability, and long-term preservation strategies. Institutions rely on standards such as MARC, Dublin Core, EAD, and various authority files, and must address issues of provenance, donor rights, copyright, and deaccessioning. The work is performed by librarians, archivists, conservators, curators, and collection managers, often within a coordinated governance framework to ensure access, sustainability, and accountability.