Collections Link

Hi Alex, Hi Leena, As it goes to a group of objects, I hope the following case study will have some use for you, although probably limited due to the fact that UK inventory numbering system is often quite different than the one we use in Poland and due to possible differences with inventories in Finland. There are at least two kinds of groups of objects, first when we deal with complex object containing/consisting of parts (e.g. set) and second, in collection level, when we deal with a collection of objects with an unifying feature like author, donor, topic or same ship wreck. The first kind of group of objects can be easily managed in SPECTRUM with Record Type in the Record Information Group. Usually, when we deal with a complex object like a set, containing of parts e.g. toolbox with 7 tools, we create a complex object number in museum inventory. In mentioned example it could be XYZ/AB/123/1-8 - where XYZ refers to owner's acronym, AB refers to responsible department acronym, 123 - is the inventory number and 1-8 are sub-numbers referring to each separate part of the set. So, toolbox would have been identified as XYZ/AB/123/1, flat screwdriver as XYZ/AB/123/2, Phillips screwdriver as XYZ/AB/123/3 and so on. Sub-numbers from 1 to 8 mean that object XYZ/AB/123/1-8 counts of 8 elements (objects) in total but is registered as one inventory item in an inventory book. To make things more complicated, in some cases we use sub-numbers containing letters e.g. XYZ/AB/456/A-C where all three parts are components of one object like jug (A) with lid (B) and base (C) or a military uniform consisting of a trousers (A), jacket (B) and cup (C) and are counted as one object and consequently registered as one inventory item in the book. The third case of sub-numbers is the mix of the first two (e.g. XYZ/AB/789/1-2 where XYZ/AB/789/1/A-F has parts A-F and XYZ/AB/789/2/1-5 has 5 elements). In all cases we create a record for each element/part (i.e. XYZ/AB/123/1 to 8; XYZ/AB/456/A to C) and so called main record for the group/set (i.e. XYZ/AB/123/1-8) - the distinction is made by appropriate description in the Record Type (i.e. part, set or ensemble). So, if a user searches for XYZ/AB/123 in database, he will find all 9 records. If a user wants to find only records describing whole sets he needs to use advanced search tools and choose "set" in the Record Type. However, there are more advanced IT solutions which allow to work on sets but usually old rule "the simpler the better" applies. For instance, our database allows to create a special record to describe set (record contains only of general information), but the problem starts when you deal with a set containing of some number of smaller sets (the third case - mixed numbers and letters). The way you can deal with second kind of group of objects (i.e. in collection level) depends on an unifying feature. If the unifying feature is a ship wreck from which objects where collected, you can use Field Collection Event Name in Object Collection Group to indicate the wreck and at the same time you will create a distinguishing feature from all other objects and collections in the database. In many other cases Object History and Association Information group might be the solution to distinguish between collections as well. However, that doesn't describe the collection as whole but only indicates its members. If it's absolutely necessary, one probably will have to add at least one information group to its database and thus go beyond SPECTRUM. In our case, we have decided to extend beyond SPECTRUM and we have created a whole information group called "Wreck" which has been designed to be used to describe an examined wreck (type, name, flag, place of origin, date of manufacturing and other relevant dates, type of construction, number of decks, propulsion, sails, cargo description, armament and so on). It also has been related with Object Collection Group by unit of information called "wreck name". Thus, in wreck record (which is in a different database module than inventory objects) we can list a table of all related objects with a particular wreck and skip to selected records (in inventory module). We have created "Wreck" information group because the museum I work in has been exploring underwater wrecks since the seventies of the 20th century, and we have seen the need to catalog information about a wreck itself in addition to information about particular objects collected from it. Therefore, a record describing a wreck (which itself is not an inventory item - because in almost all cases it is constantly underwater) from which hundreds to thousands objects could have been collected, has a similar function to a collection level description record. I hope I did not make it look more complicated than it actually is. Marcin

Hi Paul, Sounds like an excellent plan! There was also a (possibly) apocryphal story doing the rounds that David Dawson, who headed up the development of parts of SPECTRUM, was an avid Gerry Anderson fan, and that the original concept came from Spectrum, the shadowy international organisation of which Captain Scarlett was the secret weapon in the battle against the Mysterons... All best! Nick

Thank you for Leena and Marcin for your responses, and thank you Rupert for your initial post. The ‘Viewers personal response’ and ‘Viewers personal experience’ units were added to SPECTRUM a few years ago to support the Revisiting Collections methodology….so its interesting to see how people are handling their application. I agree that they are quite similar, and can understand how in practice it might be easier to mesh them together. I also wonder if in the second bullet under ‘Viewers personal response’ …….’regarded it as personally special’ .......would make more sense if it was under ‘Viewers personal experience’. I often use the Examples under each unit to decide what a Unit is intended to capture - they seem to me to be the best way of explaining what a unit is about – and sometimes I think the examples could be improved. In this case I found that the examples made the distinction more blurred. I carry forward discussions like this one to the next edition of SPECTRUM, which I am working on at the moment with Susie Hillhouse – so please do keep sharing thoughts and experience. I have marked these two units for review. best wishes Alex

We're a small museum, completely volunteer-run, so SPECTRUM has been invaluable in setting up procedures and documentation. Without it's guidance we'd never have achieved accreditation.