At the Met, we have been reviewing the issue of data standards for some time
now.  There are 17 different curatorial departments, each with separate TMS
databases. Because the disciplines are so varied, there are many differences
across curatorial departments in terms of how they define Culture, Period,
Nationality, etc. Our latest approach is two fold: (1) assist departments
with creating consistent data entry practices in their individual databases
and (2) review museum-wide standards from a more global approach (e.g.
setting up "super-hierarchies" and thesaurus structures that will create
ease of access for cross-collection searching).  We are still in the
strategizing stages of #2 and would be interested to find out if other
museums have taken this route. If so, I would be interested to hear about
their experiences.

--------------------------------
Linda Colet
Manager for Information Standards
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10028
212-396-5371
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-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Pearce [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 11:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Data standards


Hi again.  Good to hear from you all and I'm pleased at all the enthusiastic
responses to starting a bi-weekly data standards discussion. Later this week
I will send out a list of possible topics of the bi-week so you can see
what's coming and I will make every effort to keep them as focused and
specific as possible. Please send an email to me ([log in to unmask])
if you think I have overlooked a topic that would interest the list and I
will include it.

Dave