I think you first need to determine WHY you have the books. Are they in 
your collection because of their historical association with people or 
events you document with your collections? Then they might be artifacts 
and, if so, treated appropriatly by cataloguing them in Past Perfect using 
manuscript collection or artifact collection standards.

If, however, you use them as books...as a reference library..to research 
your collection or museum topic or whatever... then this is a library and 
you'll need to retrieve the books based on Author, Title, Subject. In this 
case get help from a librarian who can catlaogue them on the Library of 
Congress system, create a card catalogue (electronic or hard copy 
depending on your resources) and then anyone who knows how to use a 
library can retrieve the books. 

I have been in this position. Just because the object is paper between two 
covers doesn't mean it should automatically be in the library collection 
or the manuscript collection. A book that was owned by the specific 
captain of a specific ship and documents what he read in his spare time is 
probably an artifact. A book that helps you identify sail styles is a 
reference book and belongs in the library. 

Diane G. 
[log in to unmask]


On Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:12:32 -0700, Aaron Micallef <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote:

>
>We are a relatively young museum that would like to get a handle on our 
book collection.  Past curators have focused exclusively on objects and 
not library materials.  Personally, my experience is with artifacts and 
not books.  I have at least 3000 volumes that need to be cataloged.  We 
use PastPerfect for our object collection.  Has anyone used PastPerfect 
for their library collection?  Do you find it useful?  If not, do you 
suggest another cataloging program?  Although ours is a non-circulating 
collection, one benefit I see to Past Perfect is that I can launch the 
collection online with the additional software they sell and not have to 
worry to much about exporting the data.  Are they any good books out there 
about how to start a museum library.  I plan on trying to rope in some 
retired librarians to help me on this, if I can find them.  I really don't 
know where to begin.  Any help is greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.
>
>Aaron
>
>Aaron Micallef
>Curator and Collections Manager
>Santa Barbara Maritime Museum 
>113 Harbor Way, Ste. 190
>Santa Barbara, CA 93109
>

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