Museums once thought of themselves as institutions to collect and preserve objects from around the world, places for scientific study of their collections, and only lastly as places to display the exotic to the public. Some have referred to this period of display as the stack 'em deep, pile 'em high philosophy of display. Over the years museums have changed a great deal. Today, while museums are diverse, as are their aims, it can safely be said that they are primarily in the business of dissemination of information rather than artifacts. The advantage to thinking in terms of information is that it validates the collection of intangibles, such as oral histories, and replicas, as well as actual artifacts; it places museums in a key position in an information age; and it makes it easier to integrate traditional functions of collection, preservation, research and display with the new watchwords, education and communication.
It is not an understatement to say that the coming few years hold great hope as well as great hazard for museums. As museums explore providing remote access to exhibits as well as to the actual artifactual documentation, the traditional curatorial role is changing. While traditionally the curator has been the gateway to the artifact in all its forms, remote access will fundamentally alter this. The role of the curator in interpreting information should become increasingly important as direct intermediation recedes.
Because museum objects are unique to a great degree (as opposed to a book title which may have thousands of identical copies), and a focus in documenting them is to record that uniqueness, in the past there wasn't tremendous impetus to formulate strong documentation standards. Individual institutions developed information structures based on their unique collections. As database companies emerged to develop documentation products, some level of standardization began to emerge, simply as a result of the off-the-shelf collections management systems.
With the advent of the Internet, the possibility of connection and cooperation between museums has become increasingly compelling, and with it, the need for fundamental standards for museum documentation. Some of the most notable initiatives to date include SPECTRUM from the Museum Documentation Association in Great Britain, CIDOC, and work by CHIN (Canadian Heritage Information Network), such as their data dictionary.
The Getty Information Project in collaboration with the Research Libraries Group, has initiated a project to define minimum field requirements. Mystic Seaport has indicated its support for this project and hopes to contribute sample data as the project progresses.
*Bearman, David. Use of Advanced Digital Technology in Public Places. Archives and Museum Informatics. (6:3 Fall 1992).
last updated on 10/31/97