>Now, we are looking for
>* examples for numbering systems (accession numbers, catalogue numbers...)
>* examples for the most horrible old accession numbers, a computer has ever
>refused to sort correctly.
>
>It would be a very big help for us, if you could send me examples of your own
>museum work.

Hello Regine,

My name is Christine Wolf and I'm the Collections Manager at a small
medical museum in Iowa City, Iowa, USA.  I have recently updated our
numbering system as our old one was grossly inadequate and have also just
purchased a database program for collections management.  Maybe my
experiences will be helpful to you?

Our old numbering system was a simple sequential one: 1, 2, 3, 4 . . .
This system may have been o.k. 10 years ago when our museum was first
opened but now we have over 4,000 items in our collection.  One problem
with the old system was that it did not account for a single donation that
was made up of several artifacts.  So each artifact was given a different
number and there is no way to tell which ones came in with the same
accession.  But I think the biggest problem we had was that the system was
not consistently used.  The majority of our collections still don't have a
number assigned to them!!  (this is because our staff is made up almost
entirely of 2 part-time graduate students who are responsible for
researching, writing and installing all exhibits.  They just don't have
much time to care for collections or registration concerns.)

Anyway, the new system works like this:

Accession # : consists of the year, the number of the accession within that year
for example, 1996.1  This number is immediately attached to each item
in the accession
with an acid-free tag.  Catalog numbers can be assigned later and affixed
more permanently when there's more time.

Catalog #: consists of the accession number plus a number for each item in
the accession.  For example, 1996.1.1 (if the item has two or more parts
such as a pair of forceps that has a hinge joint for easy separation, the
numbers would be 1996.1.1a and 1996.1.1b).

The problem I've run into with our new computer database is that the field
for the catalog number was set by the programmers assuming a simple
sequential system (1, 2, 3, 4 . . .), it's not long enough to handle our
catalog numbers.  We're working on getting this fixed.  One thing I really
like about our new database is that I can use any kind of numbering system
I want.  I just have to tell the program what to accept.  They also
included a free-text field in which to put the old numbers so I don't lose
that information.  This is included upon request and should be a feature of
any database program in my opinion.  The program is called Accession 2.5 by
OakTree Software Specialists and it's made for Macintosh computers only (I
think).

Hope this helps

Cris Wolf

Collections Manager
UIHC Medical Museum
8024A JCP/200 Hawkins Dr.
Iowa City, IA 52242
(319) 356-8475  FAX (319) 356-3862

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