At 12:16 AM 11/23/96 +0000, Michael Cooper <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>My feeling is that there are as many "standard" ways of numbering as
>there are museums. Perhaps more: I know of at least one large and long-
>established insitution that counted over 100 styles in use in their
>registration system! Using numbers to indicate "whole-part"
>relationships is especially tricky. Personally I prefer the option to
>give one "whole" number to the whole object, -  i.e. the portfolio of so
>many prints by Ben Shahn is, say, 1996.1 - so that you can easily refer
>to it as a whole object. Then give "part" numbers to each individual
>bit, by adding an extension number to the "whole" root. So the cover is
>1996.1.1, the first print is 1996.1.2, etc. These are the numbers
>actually marked on each print (nothing bears the "whole" root just by
>itself - it's just a cataloguing convenience). Each part can then be
>given its own detailed catalogue entry independently of the whole item.
>

I've run into situations in which a multi-part item (portfolio, teaset,
etc.) is donated in parts -- a year at a time.  For these items the
numbering system proposed above does not work well because the accession
number scheme attempts to track two potentially dispirate concepts: date of
acquisition and acquisition group.  For this reason, in one collection
management system I built, I provided for a separate group number.  The
accession number was left to record the logic of attribution and items were
united by reference to a group number that could be attached to any number
of items.  If the group number is recorded in a multi-valued field, it can
also be used to track groups within groups.  When using the group number,
the first entry would catalogue the group name and successive entries, e.g.
1996.50.1, 1996.50.2 would define the parts.  In addition, accessories
associated with the group, a case or a frame can also be catalogued in this
way.  A query for Ben Shahn Portfolio would produce the top number
(1996.50) and a subsequent query for 1996.50.* would bring up every item in
the group.




===========================
Robert A. Baron
Museum Computer Consultant
P.O. Box 93
Larchmont, NY 10538 (USA)
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