Dear Kelly,

We renamed the Object Level field and now call it Conservation Lab. The pick list has our six conservation labs listed, as well as lab-combos such as Furniture and Textiles for upholstered furniture. This method helps our conservators know the number of objects for which they are responsible. We remove the lab name after an object is deaccessioned. We also remove all labs from Virtual Records.

We do not use the Object Type field at the present time.

We also renamed the Loan Class field to Year Acquired because that information cannot always be correctly determined from our accession numbers. Also, in our gallery labels (for which we have written many Label Reports) the Year Acquired follows the Credit Line so we had to have it somewhere to pull into reports.

Regarding the Bibliography Module, we use the Library of Congress number for the Reference Number, because this is what our library uses for the publication. This is easy for us to do because our library is part of a consortium of art libraries and we can find the publication in their on-line listings and copy a lot of pertinent information for our TMS records. We are fortunate that one of our library staff keeps the Bib Module up to date.

Best wishes, Linda

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kelly Rushing
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 10:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Bibliography module and object type/level

We have just started using the bibliography module in TMS and are wondering what to use as the reference number for each record.  Our first instinct was to use the catalog number that our library assigns to the book.  However, many times when I enter the record, the book won’t have been catalogued yet, so if we want to use their number, I would have to leave it blank and go back later.  The library uses the Dewey Decimal system, so I can’t find the number inside the book, as you often can with the Library of Congress number.  I’m wondering what other museums are using for this field: the library’s number, a sequential numbering system, or something else entirely?

I would also like to know how others are handling the object type and object level fields.  We aren’t currently using them, but it bugs me that I have to choose “not defined” if I click on those fields when I’m entering a new object.  Has anyone else found them to be useful, and if so, what options have you entered?  It is possible to rename them and use them for something else?

Thanks for your help!

Kelly Rushing

Registrar

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art

500 W. Washington St.

Indianapolis, IN  46204

Phone: 317-275-1359

Fax: 317-275-1459