SPECTRUM: The UK Museum Documentation Standard
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This comprehensive new publication from the MDA has been developed in
partnership with more than seventy contributors from over fifty museums
and galleries across the British Isles.
 
This edition is intended for use in all types of medium to large museums
by the following:
 
        * Documentation specialists
 
        * Curators responsible for documentation policy
 
SPECTRUM provides you with:
 
        * A statement of good practice for managing museum documentation,
          based on consensus within the museum community
 
        * Twenty procedures for documenting museum collections, from object
          creation to collection, acquisition to disposal
 
        * Descriptions and definitions of the units of information required
          to support the procedures
 
Use SPECTRUM to:
 
        * Write procedures and cataloguing manuals for your museum
 
        * Establish your museum's information requirements for automated
          or paper based systems
 
        * Develop the documentation elements of your collections management
          policy
 
        * Agree performance indicators and quality service standards for
          documentation in your museum
 
        * Justify bids for resources to support documentation
 
Also Available:
 
        SPECTRUM Essentials - A concise version of SPECTRUM intended for
        smaller museums.
 
Quotations:
 
"As a body committed to the raising of standards in museums, the MGC
greatly welcomes SPECTRUM. It is a most important development for the
museum community, and I am sure that the hard work and detailed thought
from MDA staff and their many helpers in museums will pay handsome
dividends in the years to come."
PETER LONGMAN, DIRECTOR, MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES COMMISSION
 
"The Department of National heritage welcomes this new initiative from
the MDA. The Department is providing additional financial support to
ensure that it is as accessible to as many museums as possible."
PHILIP GREGORY, HEAD OF MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF
NATIONAL HERITAGE
 
"I am delighted with the MDA's achievement in co-ordinating and publishing
SPECTRUM. It draws on contributions from many museum professionals: their
time and effort have, I believe, been an investment which will be richly
repaid. SPECTRUM will undoubtedly stand as a firm foundation for our
documentation initiatives into the 21st century."
RICHARD FOSTER, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES ON MERSEYSIDE
 
"A regular cornucopia of information; the right sort of food for the museum
community at the right time. SPECTRUM has proved to be a horn of plenty for
the LASSI project."
MICK STANLEY, CHAIR, LASSI PROJECT TEAM
 
Ordering SPECTRUM and SPECTRUM Essentials
(overseas customers; all prices are Pounds Sterling):
 
SPECTRUM:               65 plus postage
SPECTRUM Essentials:    7.50 plus postage
Overseas postage:       3
 
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 Tony Gill                         e-mail: [log in to unmask]
 Technical Outreach Manager
 Museum Documentation Association
 Lincoln House, 347 Cherry Hinton Road,         Tel:    +44 223 242848
 Cambridge CB1 4DH, UK                          Fax:    +44 223 213575
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