External Email - Exercise Caution
Dear Fatima
Replying directly to your questions:
Yes, we do use TMS for this.
Exhibition loans in are assigned object numbers beginning with X; their status is ‘Exhibition Loan In’, and their department is ‘Exhibition Loans’. We don’t currently use departments within Exhibitions.
We use Statuses combining a standard list of statuses (see below) with the venue’s city to track progress as objects are requested and either agreed or declined; these have to be entered anew for every exhibition. We also use Attributes, again set up form scratch for every show, to describe which section of the exhibition the object has been placed in. (This does mean they can be changed relatively easily; but assigning objects to sections can be a bit of a pain.)
My big beef is the need to set up new Statuses for every exhibition – at the moment we let exhibitions staff do this, and they can go a bit off-piste – we then spend a lot of time working out why list views, reports, etc. aren’t working correctly. I’ve proposed an extension to the object-venue links to make this rich enough to be properly useful for planning purposes (https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.gallerysystems.com%2Fs%2Fideas&data=05%7C01%7Ctmsusers%40si-listserv.si.edu%7C64182ad700394301ca6b08da5a726572%7C989b5e2a14e44efe93b78cdd5fc5d11c%7C0%7C0%7C637921744626804159%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=v7OaZpH2YTh2YOMnaz3KWIXvduUwiV18pf7%2FPMTZG4k%3D&reserved=0, #0871K000000OBP3QAO FWIW – down the bottom of the list and also pasted below – please upvote it, because it would I think be really useful for exhibition planning).
Best wishes
Rupert
More granular tracking of objects in exhibition venues
At the National Gallery in London, we find ourselves managing the creation of multi-venue exhibitions. We need to track objects through the process from wishlist to agreed inclusion in the exhibition, in detail, for each separate venue (list of terms used below). Currently, we use a new set of attributes for every exhibition to manage this - which need to take account of each possible combination of venues. This is pretty unsustainable, and it's very difficult to get an overview of which objects are at which stage for any given venue.
We also need to be able to see at a glance which objects are included for a venue, which excluded - and which are still possibilities, i.e. neither included nor excluded, but still up for grabs. This isn't an option in TMS (2016 R2).
I therefore propose:
1. Adding 'Possible' (or similar) to the options under Venue Objects in the Exhibitions tree view, alongside 'Excluded' and 'Included'. This would mean adding a field to ExhVenObjXrefs (let's call it 'Broader Status' for now).
2. Adding a termlist field to ExhVenObjXrefs, which would contain client-defined terms for each particular stage of arranging to borrow an object in a client's exhibition-planning workflow. As part of defining the termlist, each client would map each term to one of one our three broader choices of 'Excluded', 'Possible', 'Included'. Updating the termlist field would automatically update the 'Broader Status' field, and hence the tree view. To retain drag-and-drop functionality, a client would also have to denote one term for each broader choice as the default to use when dragging and dropping.
3. Making the termlist field visible and editable in the list of venues in the 'Venues and Note' card of an Exhibitions module object record, and visible in the various Venue Objects list views.
For information, assuming a two venue show (London and Washington DC), these are the stages of object negotiation that our Exhibitions team use (and to which they often try and add ... 'Agreed in principle' is the latest request):
* Wish List
* To be requested
* Requested London
* Requested London, Washington DC
* Requested Washington DC
* Request acknowledged
* Agreed London
* Agreed London, Washington DC
* Agreed Washington DC
* Reserve
* Refused
* Refused but
* Dropped
Rupert Shepherd, PhD FSA
Collection Information Manager
E [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
T +44 (0)20 7747 5921
Currently working remotely; calls to the number above should still reach me.
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Mahdi, Fatima
Sent: 24 June 2022 21:47
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Exhibition development in TMS?
This Message originated outside your organization.
________________________________
External Email - Exercise Caution
Hello TMSers!
Does anyone use TMS for the process of developing an exhibition, tracking potential loans early in the curator's development process, in addition to actual loans that come in the door?
I am curious about your workflow, and what Object Number, Object Status, and Department combination you use for the records.
Thanks folks!
Fatima
--
Fatima Mahdi
Collections Information Specialist/TMS
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
200 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23220-4007
Tel. 804.340.1443
Pronouns: she/her/hers
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