Greetings All,

I am working on a project to enter 100 years' worth of collections
information into our PastPerfect database. Along with that we're trying to
standardize our approach to the database including how we organize and
search information.

One of the questions that has come up is how best to use the search terms
field to help link related items within the collection. In the past we have
used proper nouns in the search terms field (e.g. American Red Cross) to
link objects, archival materials, books, and photographs together. However,
it's recently been suggested that using an Online Public Access Catalog
(OPAC) would be better. The argument for this approach is that it would
standardize the copious terms we have for the same things (some localities
have several spellings each used at different times), it would bring our
database in line with the local library's database (who also has a local
history book collection), and ultimately it might bring us in line with
other collecting agencies when all of our collections information is fully
available online and we're operating under web 3.0 (which may or may not be
a ways off).

In researching this possibility I have found that museums are using OPAC for
their library and archival collections, which makes sense since it was
designed for those collections. However, I have not found OPAC is also being
used to search object and photographic collections. In fact I haven't seen
any discussion of a generally accepted approach to object catalogs and
search terms. Each institution seems to create their own.

Is anyone using OPAC for all of their collections (beyond just books and
manuscripts)? Are there are any reasons not to use OPAC for object
collections? How does your museum organize and use the search terms field,
if at all? Is there a generally accepted approach to search terms?

Any help you could offer would be most appreciated.


Thanks In Advance,

Mark A. Turdo, IMLS Project Manager
Andover (MA) Historical Society

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