Collections Link - Just Practical Advice - 0845 838 4000

Collection Descriptions

This document was written, and licensed for publication by the Collections Trust.

What exactly is a Collection Description?

A collection description is, most simply, a description of any group of individual items. Such a description may include:

  • A general description of the collection
  • Related keywords
  • People & places associated with the collection
  • Date range (of collection)
  • Location information
  • An indication of key strengths

So, what is a 'collection'?

A collection is essentially an arranged group of individual items or resources. A collection can be made up of any number of items, and the items within a collection may come in any format (from the physical to the digital). Within museums, collections are often arranged by type, location, time period, medium or technique, or the original owner/benefactor of the collection.

Why are collection descriptions useful?

Collection descriptions can be useful for a range of reasons:

Resource management

Collection descriptions can be a valuable complement to item level descriptions held within museums. Possibly one of the most obvious benefits is that collection descriptions can be used to provide a museum with a useful overview of their entire holdings (albeit at a simplified level). Collection descriptions can also be particularly useful for providing an overview of groups of uncatalogued resources.

In addition, the creation of collection descriptions can be undertaken in a relatively short period of time, in comparison with the creation of item level data. For example, several hundred (or even thousand) individual items may constitute a single collection. This comparatively quick method of describing museum holdings could also provide some very useful collections management information, perhaps help prioritise areas such as acquisition, conservation and item-level descriptions, and thus serve as a useful resource management tool.

Improving access

Collection descriptions can be very helpful to the user too. A scan of collection descriptions can enable the user to quickly assimilate a good idea of a museum's holdings and uncover the existence of collections which are likely to contain resources that they are interested in. This is not only quicker than scrutinising item-level listings, it is also probable that the user might come across additional relevant resources within the same identified collections.

For museums interested in providing public access to their item-level descriptions database over the Internet, collection descriptions can provide a vital access tool for search engines, which do not search for items within databases on websites. Collection descriptions can be created as separate web pages and can thus be identified by web searches which can then point the user to the item-level database within the site.

A Collaborative approach

Increasing importance is being put upon partnership and cross-domain working between museums, archives and libraries (including access to funding!). Collection descriptions have the potential to provide an important role in supporting cross-domain resource discovery. For example, using such a cross-domain tool, a user could potentially locate a collection of local roman pottery findings in their local museum, study material in their nearby library and maps of the same area through the ages from an archive collection. It is quite likely that this process could also enable the user to make links that they would not have otherwise done. The collation of collection descriptions can also play an important part in mapping collections across a given region, and could also help source relevant partners for European and other types of funding.

Some projects are already underway that are investigating cross-sector or cross-domain collection description resources including Cornucopia www.cornucopia.org.uk, a searchable database of museum collections throughout the UK managed by MLA.

Interoperability

Interoperability (in this context) can be described as the ability of systems containing collection descriptions to send and receive information between one another in a seamless manner. For cross-sector and cross-domain collection description ventures to be successful, the use of standards are extremely important. Initiatives such as the Dublin Core seek to address this by defining a small set of elements, the semantics of which are commonly understood. The Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) have designed a collection description schema www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/rslp/ based on Dublin Core which promotes co-ordinated collection development and which can potentially be used across the domains.

Sources of help and advice

Dunn, Heather. 'Collection Level Description - the Museum Perspective' in D-Lib Magazine, Vol 6 No 9, September 2000
www.dlib.org/dlib/september00/dunn/09dunn.html

Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI)
http://dublincore.org

Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP). Collection Description Schema
www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/rslp/

Thomson, Neil. 'Towards a Whole-Museum Response: Discovering The Natural History Museum's Collections' in Cultivate Interactive, issue 2, 16 October 2000
www.cultivate-int.org/issue2/natural/

The Collections Trust provides impartial resources for all aspects of collections information management. For more information please contact: Collections Link - 0845 838 4000.

This factsheet was compiled with generous assistance from Heather Williamson of the Crossroads Project.

Version 1.2 - Updated April 2006.