In article <l03130309b2cb36fa04f7@[199.240.78.230]>,
[log in to unmask] says...
>
>Greetings:
>
>        I was wondering if anyone has figured out what to use for
the year
>2000 when entering accession numbers on a database? Please feel
free to
>send any and all ideas. Your help is much appreciated. I will thank
you in
>advance... Thank You!
>
>Jan McCormick
>Curator

Since all our accession numbers, back to our founding in 1948, start
with two-digit year codes (eg: 55.12, 89.6.2), I am continuing the
paratice through this year.  Thus all our 1999 accessions will be
numbered 99.x.y, if you catch my drift.  Starting in 2000 I will
begin using 4-digit years for the first part of accession numbers:
2000.x.y  etc.

In our database I maintain a field for accession number and also for
sorting number.  These Sorting Numbers all have full 4-digit years,
and leading zeroes where necessary to insure that a list sorted on
this field would put accession numbers in proper order.  A straight
alpha sort of the accession numbers themselves would put 78.2 after
78.19 -not what we want.  So these accessions have sorting numbers
of 1978.02 and 1978.19, and then they sort OK.

I hope this helps. -S.

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      University of Maine Museum of Art
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