Putting a mixed collection into order

Text A: an original contemporary practice extract.

The school’s box of donated board games looked generous until we opened it. Some lids named a game whose pieces were in another box; two packs contained cards from more than one edition. We began by checking what belonged together, using instruction sheets rather than guessing from colour. A complete-looking box could still be missing the pieces that made its rules possible.

We labelled the checked games and kept uncertain pieces in a separate tray. One parent identified a set of counters we had not recognised. We then recorded which games could be borrowed and which still needed attention. The collection became smaller on the loan list, but more useful to a class that expected a game to be playable when it reached their table.

Text B: an original contemporary practice extract.

A gardening group inherited a cupboard of seed packets and envelopes. Dates were missing from several envelopes, and the same handwritten plant name appeared on containers with different contents. The organiser asked donors to identify what they could and kept unidentified seeds apart. Looking similar was not enough to establish that two packets held the same thing.

Members recorded names, dates where known and the source of the information. Packets whose contents could be established were placed on a clearly labelled shelf for the group’s agreed planting project. The others remained separate pending identification. The cupboard offered fewer immediate choices than its crowded appearance suggested, but people could now see which choices rested on dependable information.

Both texts describe the problems involved in organising the collections.

What similarities do the problems involved in organising the collections share in these extracts? Use evidence from both texts to support your answer.