MDA (museums)

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The MDA, formerly the Museum Documentation Association, is the United Kingdom's lead organisation for documentation and information management in museums and related heritage institutions.

MDA is responsible for publishing SPECTRUM, the UK Museum Documentation Standard. SPECTRUM is recognised nationally and internationally as the industry standard for documentation. It defines 21 procedures in documentation practice, along with over 400 Units of Information.

MDA runs Collections for All, a UK-wide campaign advocating the social, intellectual, professional and economic impact of best practice in collections management.

MDA is a registered charity and is funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, Scottish Museums Council and CyMAL through the Welsh Museums Federation.

The MDA were one of the first museum organizations in the world to have a website. Their initial website went live in the early 1990s, hosted by the Oxford University Computing Laboratory. They maintain the UK section of the Virtual Library museums pages (VLmp).

The offices of the MDA are based in Cambridge.