Thanks Christine, This is, I guess, a larger part of the problem. We don't really have clear cut boundaries on these sorts of things. Great latitude is given to departments to collect things that they think are good for the collection. (I'm not convinced that they actually know the comprehensive collection well enough before they say that they need something else, but that's another story..) Often, though, the departments will work together to acquire things. When it comes time to approve loans or deaccessions, it gets a little dicey and we're often at pains to find out who does make those decisions. For the first few years after an acquisition, the curator who brought it in is very territorial.... Years later, or if the staff changes, they are less so. The issue really has come to a head lately when we get new curators who want to, understandably, get a handle on what their collection is that they are responsible for. I can't really bring up a definitive list out of TMS by department for them, and I get defrocked as the sham of a database administrator wannabe I am. I'm toying with the idea of suggesting that we set up TMS departments that follow strict guidelines, and trying to make the curators realize that when they collect certain things, they are acting in another department. That falls apart, though, when the Latin American department wants to get a handle on the things they have acquired in the last five years, and a great number of them are prints or photographs. David From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Christine Droll Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 11:19 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Crossing Department lines David, I suppose the first consideration is which department has jurisdiction over the object. If only one department is responsible (for making decisions about acquiring, lending, or deaccessioning), then that would be the "Department" field in the Objects module. If this is not the case, and if two (or more?) departments lay claim to such decisions, then how do you indicate whose decision trumps whom? Christine Christine Droll Collections Database Administrator The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art 4525 Oak Street Kansas City, MO 64111-1873 t: 816.751.1333 f: 816.751.0499 From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Aylsworth, David Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 10:34 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Crossing Department lines I imagine that there are a other museums that are in our situation and I'd be curious how many of you feel it is a problem, or how you deal with it. Our museum has a lot of curatorial departments that have a lot of crossover between them. Some of them are time based (Antiquities, Modern & Contemporary), others are culture based (Latin American, American, European, Asian), others are media based (Prints & Drawings, Photography, Film & Video), and we've now added one that is religion based (Islamic). Objects in the Islamic department are also Asian or Antiquities. Our Asian department collects not only traditional woodblock prints and the like, but also contemporary photographs, videos, and sculptures-sometimes by the same artists collected by the Photography and Modern & Contemporary department. Our Latin American department collects prints, drawings, contemporary paintings, and videos. This list could go on and on. I don't want to discourage the cross-department collecting, but while the curators are only really concerned about their most recent acquisitions, I'm concerned that twenty years from now, it's going to be strange why the same artist has works that look identical in different departments. Am I being too uptight about this? Does anyone have any similar situation or thoughts? I'd appreciate hearing any comments any of you have. Thanks, David David Aylsworth Collections Registar Museum of Fine Arts, Houston tel: 713-639-7824 fax: 713-639-7780