In November 2010, Museum Victoria and La Trobe University hosted a two-day symposium at Melbourne Museum for museum managers, senior collections staff and regulators with responsibility for archaeology and/ or archaeological collections. Invited speakers responded to session themes with reference to their own practice and experience. Their papers are printed in this volume. The keynote presentations were given by Dr Nick Merriman, Director of The Manchester Museum, England and Dr S. Terry Childs, Museum Program Manager with the Department of the Interior in the United States. Both have written extensively about archaeological collections and collections management, articulating the need for a sustainable approach to collecting, curating and managing archaeological assemblages.