Susanna Hillhouse
Collections Management Adviser, Scotland
Email: susanna@collectionstrust.org.uk

I joined the Collections Trust Collections Management advisor network in September 2007 and work one day a week providing advice and new content for Collections Link. I also deliver documentation training for the Collections Trust. I jumped at the chance to work for the Collections Trust having recently set myself up as a freelance museum consultant after many years working for the Scottish Museums Council. This new role allows me to keep in touch with museums across the whole country, and I find that the variety of queries – and the problem-solving required in answering those queries – is a great way to keep my own knowledge fresh.

When I first qualified as a curator in 1996 I worked in a university museum collection with a large historic documentation backlog. An Collections Trust training course in backlog planning gave me the skills and knowledge to set up a system to deal with the apparently insurmountable task. Before long I was passing on the knowledge I had gained to post-graduate Museum Studies students. More recently, working as an adviser and assessor of Registration and Accreditation, I have learnt how to interpret and apply the standards embedded in SPECTRUM and in the Accreditation Scheme to museums of every size, shape and staffing capacity. The regular contact with a wide range of dedicated individuals and the museum collections that they look after has been immensely satisfying, and continues to motivate me in my work for the Collections Trust.

Outside of my one day a week for the Collections Trust, I fit in other freelance assignments around the school and nursery run with my two small boys. In the holidays we all head to the mountains or remote islands with a tent for blasts of fresh air and adventure. In my non-existent spare time I dabble in photography and an increasing number of unfinished knitting projects.