A museum is distinguished a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive, library, etc., where the contents may be more paper-based, replacable and less exhibition oriented. A museum normally has a collecting policy for new acquisitions, so only objects in certain categories and of a certain quality are accepted into the collection. The National Gallery in London, a famous museum. ... Exhibition may refer to: Exhibition (scholarship), a small grant Worlds Fair Exhibition game, a friendly match Art exhibition Exhibition (equestrian), a sport involving horse and riders Science fair State fair Funfair Trade fair Xzibit See also Look up exhibition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Research is often described as an active, diligent, and systematic process of inquiry aimed at discovering, interpreting and revising facts. ... For other uses of the word Archive, see Archive (disambiguation) Archives refers to a collection of records, and also refers to the location in which these records are kept. ... A modern-style library in Chambéry In the traditional sense of the word, a library is a collection of books and periodicals, . It can refer to an individuals private collection, but more often it is a large collection that is funded and maintained by a city or institution. ...

Museum collections, and archives in general, are normally catalogued, originally typically in a card index, but nowadays in a computerized database. Transferring collection catalogues onto computer-based media is a major undertaking for most museums. All new acquisitions are normally catalogued on a computer in modern museums, but there is typically a backlog of old catalogue entries to be computerized as time and funding allows.

Deaccessioning, the process of disposing, selling or trading objects from a museum collection, is not undertaken lightly in most museums. There may be ethical issues to consider since many donors of objects typically expect the museum to care for them in perpetuity. Deaccessioning of an object in a collection may be appropriate if a museum has more that one example of that object and if the object is being transferred to another museum. A famous example of controversial deaccessioning is the last remaining complete Dodo in a museum collection at Oxford University due to its deterioration. Another example is the sale of a J. M. W. Turner painting in the collection of Royal Holloway, University of London to the Getty Museum to fund the maintenance of the building, despite the fact that the original benefactor had expressly requested the collection to be kept intact. Binomial name Raphus cucullatus (Linnaeus, 1758) Former range (in red) The Mauritius Dodo (Raphus cucullatus, called Didus ineptus by Linnaeus), more commonly just Dodo, was a metre-high flightless bird of the island of Mauritius. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Self portrait, oil on canvas, circa 1799 Joseph Mallord William Turner (born in Covent Garden, London on April 23, 1775 (exact date disputed), died December 19, 1851) was an English Romantic landscape artist, whose style can be said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism. ... Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) is one of the larger colleges of the University of London. ... View of a building at the Getty Center, from the Central Garden. ...

In the United Kingdom, guidelines governing deaccessioning and other ethically difficult issues can be found in the Museums Association's Code of Ethics. The Museums Association (MA) is a professional organization for museum professionals and museums in the United Kingdom. ...