Dear Sharon,
At the National Portrait Gallery, we are fairly generous with rights in order to allow everyone to do what they need to do--even if that means extra monitoring and data editing at times. One thing we do not let anyone except the two administrators do is to edit our local thesaurus and authority terms. Users send requests for new terms to me, or in my absence my supervisor. This works for us, but we don’t generally add new thesaurus terms and authority field items very often. Your last position sounds ideal, with only one cook stirring the broth. No manual and no amount of training will prevent users from entering data incorrectly and/or inconsistently. Too bad that it’s not feasible at most museums to leave all TMS cataloguing to one person! My best advice is to be aware of the abilities of those entering data. Some people just get it, and others just don’t; and some are careful to follow rules, while others love to invent their own. The latter type will find something bizarre to do to the data no matter how much you restrict their permissions.
Good luck,
Sue
From: The Museum
System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sharon Aponte Misdea
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008
3:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Catalog Data Quality
Control
Hello,
I was hoping some of the list participants might be willing to share their specific strategies for ensuring the integrity of their catalog data. I know this is a big question, so to get slightly more specific, we are doing a clean install of TMS and building our catalog as we build our collection. I am setting up a working group for setting cataloging standards (using a few good models for data structure and syntax I have in the interim) and controlled vocabularies, as well as trying to plan user groups and permissions (how much cataloging and/or data entry is done by curatorial, registration, or others?). I am particularly concerned about how to set up permissions for making changes or additions in the Thesaurus Manager (managing the approval process for suggested local terms).
If anyone is willing to share their experiences, advice, or policies concerning ‘quality control’, on or off-list, I would be most grateful. In my last position, I was the only person cataloging in TMS!
Thanks,
Sharon Aponte Misdea
Registrar
MIM - The Musical Instrument Museum
8550 South Priest Drive
Tempe, AZ 85284
480.425.3214 Direct
480.481.2460 Main