On Nov 23, 1995 10:44:59, 'Suzanne Quigley <[log in to unmask]>' wrote:


>During an inventory at a place I used to work, we assigned X19--.-----
>numbers to any objects we encountered that had no number or tag with or on

>them.  Reconciliation with catalog cards whose objects couldn't be located

>ascertained that many were the identifiable.  The 'X' number tag was
>removed and the true number affixed.

During an inventory at a place where I used to work we created two computer
lists of objects.  One list contained all the accession numbers found on
the accession cards.  The other list contained all the accession numbers
found on the objects, providing as Squigle did, arbitrary numbers for
objects without accession numbers.

By subtracting the list of found objects from the list of cards we could
develop a list of missing objects -- cards with no objects.  These could be
compared to the list of objects with no identification.

By subtracting the list of cards from the list of objects we could produce
a list of objects that had no accession cards -- an equally valuable bit of
information.
--

Robert A. Baron
Slides and Images for Art History Resource Collections
Museum Computer Consultant
P.O. Box 93, Larchmont N.Y. 10538
[log in to unmask]