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 [log in to unmask] -----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