Malcolm Chapman
Head of Collections Management
The Hunterian
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QQ
Key Responsibilities
Malcolm is a member of the senior management group of The Hunterian and has strategic responsibility for collections management and care in accordance with best practice, national standards and Accreditation. In addition to leading the Collections Management and Care team he oversees The Hunterian's loans programme and is implementing new procedures and policies including the migration to a new collections management system.
Short Biography
Malcolm has been Head of Collections Management since 2011. He has worked with collections and collections management systems in national and university museums for over twenty years, with a particular focus on improving users’ access to collections and collections knowledge. Before coming to Glasgow he was Head of Collections Development and Registrar at The Manchester Museum, University of Manchester (2000-2010) and worked in the Collections Data Management Section at The British Museum (1989-2000). While at Manchester he initiated the Collective Conversations project, winner of the MLA Inspiring North West Awards 2006 for Innovation. He has also worked as a consultant reviewing archives and collections and developing ideas to improve research access and use.
Malcolm is a graduate from the University of Exeter in 1988 with a BA (Hons) in History and Social Sciences and from the University of Manchester in 2005 with an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies. He is an Associate Member of the Museums Association and has served on national and regional committees developing standards and introducing new practice to the sector, chairing the Renaissance North West Roman Heritage Working Group funding projects to increase the use and relevance of collections. He also acted as Curatorial Advisor to the Fusiliers' Museum in Bury.
Recent Publications
Chapman, M. 2015. “Managing Collections or Managing Content?: The Evolution of Museum Collections Management Systems”. The International Handbooks of Museum Studies. 2:12:267–292. Wiley-Blackwell.
M. Chapman & G. Thiara. 2010. "Collective Conversations". The New Museum Community: Audiences, Challenges, Benefits, MuseumsEtc.
P. Bienkowski & M. Chapman. 2009. "Authority and decision making over British human remains: issues and challenges". Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, BAR International Series 1918, Oxford: Archaeopress
S.J.J. Alberti, P. Bienkowski, M. Chapman & R. Drew. 2009. "Should we display the dead? Proceedings of a debate held at the Museum of Science and Industry". Museums & Society, Vol. 7 No.3