Maja-
Our museum has to perform an inventory
every year and we have gone through a few different procedures until we found
one that fit us the best. Currently, the way we track inventory is by
location purpose. In location purpose, we have options for 2008 Inventory,
2007 Inventory, etc. We inventory by location; first we would print out a list
by location and verify that the objects are still there and then go back to TMS
and move the objects by ‘returning to home location’ and using the
purpose ‘2008 Inventory’. One thing you have to be careful of
is objects that aren’t in their home locations, for these you will have
to move the objects individually (temp move purposes 2008 Inventory and same
temp location entered). By inventorying by location, you can move/ mark
records faster that have been inventoried and now you have a previous location
record for past inventories (great for auditing and solving mysteries).
As the inventory goes along, you can always perform an advanced search looking
for objects that have not been moved for purposes of 2008 Inventory to
determine what still needs to be found. We also do create paper records
for problems- objects missing, found, moved, etc. and we solve these problems
at the end. This the gist of our inventory process, feel free to call me
if you have any questions.
Thanks
Ashley
Ashley Burke
Assistant Registrar
The John and Mable Ringling
Museum of Art
5401 Bay Shore Rd.
Sarasota, FL 34243
941-359-5700 ext. 1504
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From: The Museum System
(TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Maja Clark
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 9:23 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: first-time inventory
Hi All,
Our museum is long overdue to conduct a collections-wide
inventory. I’ve never done one before and wonder what sage advice might
be out there among TMS users on how to most efficiently conduct the inventory
and update our TMS records accordingly. Your advice would be greatly
appreciated.
Aloha,
Maja
Maja
Clark
Registrar,
Shangri La
Doris
Duke Foundation for Islamic Art
4055
Papu Circle
Honolulu,
HI 96816
(808)
792-5506