The International Council of Museums (ICOM), which is the umbrella body of all the museums in the world, defines a museum as “ a non- profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public , which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment.
Nomuseum institution can achieve the goals identified in the ICOM meaning without good storage of museum collections it is therefore useless to acquire collections. It is therefore useless to acquire collections if they cannot be well housed. Storage of museum collections underlines, the function of study, safety, research and forms the foundation for effective exhibition education and enjoyment. The keynote of a good museum is good storage of our priceless object and proper information gathered about it.
Storage is the act of keeping or putting something in a something in a special place . Storage of office materials, furniture and other goods which companies sell to make profit is completely different from that done in the museum. Objects stored in museum are collection that are not on exhibition and are referred to as being in storage. A crowed storage area results in damage of the object. On the other hand a clean uncluttered and well organized storage area, plus periodic maintenance of it may be more important to the long range success of any museum than an impressive exhibited objects in the main gallery with an inadequately care for to back it up.
One of the rules of museums storage is to develop a desire not to throw away or dump haphazardly the bits and pieces of objects boxed or baggedd to the floor, until they have been sorted and organized to have meaning. But it is important that the curator incharge of a museum store must of necessity note some very vital points.
]One is that the curator must have a good knowledge of the type of museum for which the collections are made. He or she must be clear about the nature of the collections and have a good knowledge of the objects already in storage as these will guide his method of storage of the objects already in storage as these will guide his method of storage. He must have a good understanding of the collection policy of the museum, where there is no written collection policy; he must be aware of the instrument of government or institution that created the museum which may provide information on government intentions and expected goals. Also these rules must be kept at the back of his mind that he must eliminate the common storage problems of trying to squeeze an object into a tight space or pilling a number of small objects one on another into a large boxy space or shelf. The curator must also ensure a safe environment for the workers. More over there must be accessibility within the store as well as easy handling space between the objects so that when one is removed for inspection, the others will not fall out. This implies that each object must be stored in such a way that it stands out on its own. It is said that collections make the museum and since the museum is supposed to last indefinitely, the care of these objects surpasses all other functions.
The beginning of a museum is the collection storage, without objects, a museum cannot function. Objects are central core around which it builds its programme. It follows that every museum has an imperative duty to take intelligent and effective care of its possessions, both while they are in storage are being showcased on the exhibition.
Finally, proper storage and documentation of museum collections remain the cornerstone and a well arranged storage collections would reduce the need to move objects around for research use under awkward conditions and also less opportunity there is for accidental damage. Onyeike is senior curator, National 
