Marisa,

Thank you for asking this question! We have some unintended cross-over between these two fields as well, so I'm interested to hear how others use them. Generally speaking, we use the Curatorial Remarks field to indicate the source of our data, since not all of our records are NPG objects that were catalogued by curatorial departments; we do also enter in Curatorial Remarks "notes" about the object that are for in-house use only. The Notes field we tend use for the kind of information that might go online or on an object label; however, we do not currently use the Notes field on our website.

Sue Garton
Data Administrator
National Portrait Gallery
(202) 633-8554 / [log in to unmask]

From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Marisa Szpytman
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2013 12:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: "Curatorial Remarks" vs. "Notes" TMS fields

Hi TMS Listserv,

We are reevaluating some of our standards for the text entry fields in TMS, and two that are being particularly tricky are the 'Curatorial Remarks' and the 'Notes' fields. In our basic practices manual, 'Curatorial Remarks' is described as being for general comments concerning the object, but is also not restricted just to curators. Departments that currently have access to the 'Curatorial Remarks' field include Registrar, Collections Management, and Conservation. The 'Notes' field was not originally intended to be for permanent information, but for notes on entry fields that needed to be corrected or additional information that needed to be added to the TMS record or physical file, and removed with those tasks were completed.

In reality, the standards set up above are not followed. The problem is that these two fields have become interchangeable in terms of use, with curators putting their comments in the 'Notes' field and information that is not intended to be permanent put into 'Curatorial Remarks'.

I would like to know what criteria other museums use to differentiate between these two text entry fields in TMS. Input from museums using any version of TMS are appreciated!

Thank you!

Marisa Szpytman
Registrar Intern
Detroit Institute of Arts

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