Hi Jarrett,

We have used a few typical numbering variations for our study, prop, and exhibit collections. They aren't a perfect solution but they work well for us. The curatorial study collections each have a three letter prefix which denotes their department, followed a numbering preference and we elected to do the same for exhibit props:


*        HSC.0001: basically History Study Collection followed by a sequential number; for whatever reason we elected to include leading zeros

*        PPC.0001: the Philatelic Prop Collection started out the same way but has since change to:

*        PPC.2017-1: the Philatelic Prop Collection now has the prefix followed by the year and a dash and sequential number

*        EXP.year-#: we adopted this same format for exhibit props and this was where we particularly found it useful to have the year since it often coincided with the exhibition year, although not always of course depending on the planning cycle

One of our main concerns was making sure the naming convention would make it overtly obvious for an average user that this record was not an accessioned object. We have other clues as well such as the Object Status selection (which will show up in red-in our case Prop) but we liked the visual reinforcement of the naming structure as well.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas. We can always talk off line if you have further questions.

Beth

Elizabeth Heydt, Collections Manager
Smithsonian National Postal Museum
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202-633-5515

From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Smith, Jarrett
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2017 12:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: File Naming Convention for Study Collection

Hello All,

Here at the NMAAHC, we are currently discussing how to name our study collections. There are two leading proposals: one, keep our conventional trinomial naming convention for accessioned objects and add a prefix; and two, to create an entirely different naming convention.

Any examples, with logic, about how other institutions differentiate the file names for non-accessioned objects from their accessioned collection in TMS would be helpful.

Thank you all for your time, and look forward to your responses.

Regards,
Jarrett L. Smith

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