Hi Sandra,
You can decide what works best for your institution but one relatively common option is to complete a 10% random sample inventory annually (during whatever part of the year you find your workload is less) and then a 100% inventory every ten years or so. You are the best judge of the percentage/timeframe, however, as it needs to be based on what you think you can realistically complete in a short period of time, your faith in your current location/condition data and cataloguing process, and/or when your last 100% inventory was completed.
Hope that helps,
Rebecca L. Hutchins
Curator of Collections/Registrar
Whatcom Museum
121 Prospect Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
Phone: (360) 778-8955
Fax: (360) 778-8931
Email: [log in to unmask]
www.whatcommuseum.org
Please note: All of my incoming and outgoing email messages are subject to public disclosure requirements per RCW 42.56.
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sandra Vanderwarf
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2013 11:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Random Sample Inventory question
Happy New Year, List!
Please, somebody, anybody-Can you refer me to literature that specifies the appropriate random sample percent to use based on the total number of collections objects being sampled? We use TMS, which requires a number of objects to be input for the random sample, but either a number of objects to query or percent to enter for generating a random sample would be very helpful! I have found National Park Service literature that gives the random sample size for a very small collection and a very large one, but not in between.
Alternatively, if you happen to simply know the appropriate percent or number for generating a random sample of 15,000 objects, I would consider that a success at this point. Thank you all for any input!
Best wishes,
Sandra Vanderwarf
Curator, Brooklyn Children's Museum
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