>>> dave.pearce.... >snip<

I have produced a TMS data entry manual which is part

instructional guide to doing the actual data entry in TMS,

and part style guide.  As I work on this one manual it is

becoming clear that we might benefit from a data entry

manual (an extract from the TMS User's Manual) and a style

guide (Data content and formats) as separate references.

Are any other of you heading in this direction?

>>>>

 It sounds from these posts, that a lot of us are doing similar things.  I wonder if Gallery Systems would be interested in creating a place on their web site for TMS users to post and access the various in-house documentation many of us are creating?  Jay? 

Parallelism in data entry between specialists:  This is challenging.  Especially, if there's no mandate from the top.  One thing that has helped especially in the area of provenance is the manadate from the Association of American Art Museums to make this information more available to the public especially where there are gaps in provenance during the Nazi era. 

In this area, we started by gaining consensous between the departments that were ready to field the information which were, paintings and sculpture.  Those discussions included a representative from manuscripts who were not ready, the special projects assistant to the Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs, a data entry operator and a staff assistant who actually do a lot of the data entry.  It was interesting to see the specialist's realize that what they thought was so clear and easy to understand was not necessarily so to those outside their area of expertise. 

Amy Noel

The J. Paul Getty Museum