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Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History
Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery
1302 Bomford Crescent S.W.
Medicine Hat, AB   T1A 5E6
Tel: (403) 502-8587
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>>> [log in to unmask] 09/06/05 11:34 AM >>>
5.	Items that are used together as a set should use alphabetic
sub-numbers, such as 2005.001.001.a, while similar items used
separately
such as a set of 5 detachable collars would be numbered using numeric
sub-numbers, as in: 2005.001.001.1.


Going back to the silverware example, then, shouldn't the letter
sub-designations be applied to place settings?  After all, no one uses
16 forks together--they'd use one knife, one fork, one spoon (OK, maybe
more depending on the complexity of the table setting, but you get my
idea....).  My apologies if that sounds a bit facetious (I didn't intend
it to be so), but it does illustrate how different people will interpret
such rules differently. 

 I think the most important things are to make sure each object has a
unique number, and that numbering procedures are standardized and
clearly spelled out in a cataloguing manual, so the numbering system is
applied consistently whether it's you, a volunteer, or your successor
doing the cataloguing.

As much as possible, I always try to have one record per object--even
in a set numbered A & B, each piece gets its own record (love the
"duplicate record" function!)  I do this to keep the location entries
simple--if you have an entire silverware set catalogued in one record,
how do you show that four place settings are on permanent exhibit, two
on temporary exhibit, one on loan to an outside institution, and the
rest in storage?  It may be possible to record all this info in your
location field (I can do it with the InMagic TextWorks DB I use), but it
sure makes for an ugly, non-standardized entry that won't show up on the
forms I use to print my hard-copy accession sheets.

My 2 cents....







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