Museum-Lers-
Marni Welch, Registrar at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, California,
asked me to post the following request for information:

"We are trying to find an efficient way to integrate acessioning and
cataloging documentation systems for what have previously been separately
maintained archives, library, and museum object collections. Our goal is to
be able to consolidate accessioning, cataloging, and inventory records  for
all our colllections on a single, unified local area computer network with
an in-house proprietary software system. The obvious problems we are
encountering involve the differneces in commonly accepted library, archival
and registrarial documentation systems (i.e. do you catalog archives down
to the object level or not, and/or do paper objects get individual
accession numbers or just archival file numbers, etc.).

"In 'Bridging the Gap', an article by Katherine Kane in Museum News (pp.
46-48; Nov./Dec., 1991) she describes the outlook necessary for curators
and archivists to work together towards integrating records but does not go
into the details of how it was achieved at the Colorado Historical Society.

"Has anyone struggled with these issues in an attempt to integrate records
and access systems? We would welcome any case histories, advice, anecdotes
or suggestions."

Thanks,
Andrea M. Mugnier