Mark,

You are wise to ask.  I’ve used several systems over the years, and I suspect there are pluses and minuses to each. 

 

One major consideration: if your current records are formatted in the letter position, it will be probably be easier to find them in notebooks (provided the catalog number is on the right hand side of the page) and if the records are formatted in landscape with the number at the top, file folders will be easier.

Another consideration might be what type of storage space you have available –shelves vs. file cabinets.

 

Notebooks: I’m currently in a place that uses three ring notebooks, usually one per year or multiple years depending on volume. 

    Advantage:  it seems to reduce misfiling and may be easier to use.   

    Drawbacks: 1) it takes a lot of shelf space and if the notebook is crowded you have to fuss with reinforcing ripped out holes and 2) it has been a struggle to keep the notebooks fully upright on the shelf, --they have a tendency to flop when one is pulled out, and unless they are completely full the pages inside may sag, making the notebook go crooked and then they really don’t stand up!   If you do choose notebooks, buy very sturdy ones and be sure to use a D ring rather than an O ring because it lessens the ripping of page holes and are easier to flip through when looking for a sheet.

 

File Folders:  (which I used elsewhere)  In that situation, once we had done the data entry (or, in earlier days made catalog cards from the catalog worksheet) there was pretty much no need to handle them again, although as time goes by and others work with that collection there might be.  At any rate, that system took the least space.  That also, as Amanda pointed out, allows for use of fire proof cabinets, which I think is important. 

 

One question might be whether file folders have a worse risk for misplacing records (when pulled to work) with than binders. (In either case you have to have a really good system for temporarily holding sheets and getting them returned to their file or binder.)

 

Another system I have seen is storing three ring binders in file cabinets, - some waste of space, but having them in a fire-proof cabinet would be worth it. If you used no larger than 2” binders (larger get heavy to lift from drawers) and each binder is full but not too full, this might be a good way to go, if you can afford the file space, since the pages are hanging from their 3 rings and not sagging.

 

I have never used bound notebooks for catalog records, but it seems to me you would have a problem trying to photocopy a page, and if you need to change or add any information, you would have to handle the entire book.  Our worksheets are pulled frequently as our early cataloguing was quite inadequate and we’re checking the level of detail now as we have occasion to handle them for storage location changes, pulling for exhibit, etc.  The sheets then go to data entry to update the computer record, so having the sheets bound in books would be extremely cumbersome.  (I think the use of bound books is generally used for original intake (accession) records and it is important that those be bound, but those records don’t have the level of detail that a catalog record has.)

 

Catalog cards, it seems to me, would have to be large ones, to be useful at all.  But in a natural history collection they might be able to hold the information you need, and would, indeed, take less space.

 

Hope this helps your decision making!

 

Lucy Sperlin

Butte County Historical Society

Oroville, CA

 

We use a file folder system.  We have a file for each accession record that includes a print out of the accession record from PastPerfect, copies of our purchasing paperwork (requisition, check, etc.) and any miscellaneous paperwork that comes associated with an item.  The files are then stored in a schwab fireproof cabinet.

 

 

Hi

 

I was wondering what folks are using as their primary medium for written catalogue information and why. The options that I can think of are:

Bound notebooks

Catalogue Cards

Loose leaf-binders

 

I am contemplating changing our present system, but I was hoping for some feedback before rushing madly into what would be a huge project.

 

Many thanks for any feed back

Mark

 

Mark Walker

Curator

Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History

165 Forest Avenue
Pacific Grove, CA 93950

Telephone: (831) 648-5716 (ext. 12)

Fax: (831) 372-3256