Okay Chuck, i'll give it a shot. See comments below...
On Apr 23, 2004, at 4:53 PM, Chuck Patch wrote:
I'm interested in whether there is common agreement among museums where
the implementation of content and data standards occurs, which prompts
a number of questions that I'd like to pose to folks who work in
museums or institutions that include museums:
How many people does your institution employ?
sq - @200 (incl. guards and housekeeping staff)
Does your institution include library services? If so, are they open to
the public or only staff?
sq - Yes, we have a research library. It is for staff only + plus
researchers who are working on Whitney-based or related
projects/programming
Does your museum or museum division have a cataloger? If so, what is
the name of the department this person is a part of? Who does he/she
report to?
sq - When fully staffed, yes, our library has a cataloger. But on the
collections side, when I came to the Whitney, I changed the name of the
collection cataloguer to Documentation Manager to differentiate from
library cataloging activities, as well as to reflect the very different
responsibilities inherent in the position as I defined it. The
documentation area reports to the registrar (me).
If your museum does not have a position that is clearly labeled
"cataloger," then where does descriptive cataloging take place? In the
Collections Manager's/Registrar's office? In the curatorial
departments? Somewhere else?
sq - The Documentation Manager (DM) is responsible for all collection
and exhibition paper files and records; the administration of the
collections and exhibitions management system (upgrades, reports,
statistics, staff training, system security, etc.); the legal aspect of
the acquisition process (sending deeds of gift, processing purchases,
preparation of lists of new acquisitions to the Board for
ratification); basic cataloging and related data entry (marks,
inscriptions, signatures, dimensions, media/materials, components,
credit line, etc.). A bit of an aside: the curators begin the initial
object record in the database as part of the proposal process (the
proposal forms are printed from their initial record). They can change
'boiler plate' information in the record until the work is accessioned,
after that if they want to change data - it goes through the
reattribution process managed by the DM.
Is the person responsible for descriptive cataloging a full-time
cataloger (regardless of title)? If not, what proportion of their time
are they engaged in creating cataloging records or other descriptive
documentation?
sq - the Documentation Manager has a half time assistant who is largely
devoted to cataloging and data entry. The DM also spends approximately
1/2 to 1/3 of her time cataloging the more complicate works.
To what extent does your institution implement vocabulary and content
standards such as AAT, ULAN, Nomenclature etc... In other words
standards that are known to be used in more places than just your own?
sq - We use standards with respect to description of media. We don't
really need the breadth provided by AAT or Nomenclature, largely
because we don't collect the decorative arts at all. A good
percentage of our artists are not in ULAN. All the artists in the
collection have had a direct relationship with the museum over the
years so we either know them or they were known to previous staff. A
blessing and a curse. ;-)
suzane quigley
head registrar
whitney museum of american art (of the 20th and 21st century)
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