Case Study: The Munch Museum achieves efficient, accurate object tracking during relocation with Gallery Systems' TMS Barcode Manager

Barcoding Best Practices When Moving House

The Munch Museum, home to the most comprehensive collection of works by Edvard Munch (about 1,100 paintings, 7,000 drawings, 18,000 prints and 30,000 manuscript pages), faced the complex challenge of moving collections into temporary storage and eventually into a new building while maintaining tight control over loans and exhibitions. To address this, The Munch Museum worked with Gallery Systems and its products The Museum System (TMS) and TMS Barcode Manager to improve object tracking during the relocation and storage period.

Gallery Systems implemented a workflow using TMS and TMS Barcode Manager—scan files are transferred to a PC, reviewed in Barcode Manager, then ingested into TMS—and provided custom label reports (crate lists, all-crates, all-locations, all-objects) to support scanning where direct object labeling wasn’t possible. By grouping items into crates and scanning crates and locations rather than each item, the museum achieved precise, efficient object tracking, better preservation during transport, expedited relocation with clear time savings, and improved loans and exhibition records; The Munch Museum now plans to expand Gallery Systems’ barcoding across its entire collection.

The Munch Museum

Hilde Bøe

Digital Collection Manager