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Managing Previously Unmanaged Databases

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This article was written for and first published in the Summer 2025 Newsletter of the  Registrars Committee Western Region: https://rcwr.org/newsletters/ 

Usually, you find me writing about the real-world messes in our collections. Crammed stores. Decaying garments. Surprise findings in abandoned offices of your predecessor. But today, I want to write about another kind of mess: the information that was recorded – or wasn’t recorded – in your database.

The interior of an antiques dealer in Berlin. It holds a variety of old furniture and knick-knack. Most prominently a stuffed panther with a sign around his neck that reads in German "I am inventory - I live here" Photo taken by Angela Kipp

You don’t have a database? Then, this article will help you prepare for the time you are getting one. It may even help you in deciding what system to chose.

The Problem

Sometimes, the mess in your database is even bigger than the mess in your storage. Do any of those sound familiar to you?

  • The same information was entered in different fields, depending on who did it.
  • A lot of records are only partly filled and the information contradicts the paperwork.
  • Some objects have more than one record while others have none.
  • Data is entered inconsistently, so you have “pipe wrench”, “wrench, pipe”, “multigrip pliers”, and “water pump pliers” and they all refer to the same kind of tool.
  • Typos and inconsistent data entry make it impossible to get exact results when you search your database.

It is tempting to just correct those as you go, while you are working with the objects and I am not saying that this is a bad idea. But if you really want to make progress and getting your database into an overall better state you need a more strategic approach to it.

The problem: While you are silently fixing all the inconsistent data entries, someone else may be doing the next messy one. You first of all should determine how you want the fields to be used. You might think you have a clear idea about this, but have you, really? And have you put that into written form?

First Step: What should go where and how?

Your first step is not about fixing what is in there, it is about making sure that your database is used exactly the way you want it. For that you are creating a document that lists all the fields you have and how you want them to be used.

Be precise. “A description of the object” for the free text field “Description” will let you end up from vague entries like “Bridal gown” to a two-page description on the history of bridal gowns copied over from Wikipedia. So, formulate how you want your description to be.

Example: Object Description

“The first sentence should state what type of object it is, the main color, and important characteristics. Think of it as a way you would describe it to someone who has to look for it in the storage but doesn’t have a photo. This might be followed by a couple of sentences about the characteristics of the individual piece that makes it different from another object of the same type. Think of things like an unusual ornament, a tear, or a large stain. The purpose of this field is to make sure we can identify this individual object without doubt.”

Also make clear when information doesn’t belong in the “Description” but in other fields in your database, for example:

“Analysis of the object condition belongs in the “Condition” field. Websites about this type of object belong in the “Web links” field. Mentioning of this object in exhibition catalogs belong in the “Associated Catalogs” field. Mentioning in literature should go into the “Bibliography” field. Remarks on the provenance and previous owners go into the “Object history” field.”

Example: Terms from Controlled Vocabularies

If you are using a field where you want the entry to be taken from a controlled vocabulary, for some fields it might be enough to write “pick the correct classification from the drop-down menu”.

Others might be more complex so you need to add more guidance. “Only use terms from Nomenclature” might be at least accompanied with a link to the website https://page.nomenclature.info/ and a few examples.

If you want your information to be picked from an even more complex source, for example Getty’s Art & Architecture Thesaurus for the material, a “use only terms from the AAT” by far isn’t enough. “This term is about documenting what the object is made of. Therefore, it should be taken from the ‘materials by composition’ branch of the Materials facet of the AAT.” Provide examples, so, whoever is using your document in the future knows what your idea was and how to do a correct entry.

Guiding principle: But can I find it?

Your guiding principle when thinking about how to add your data is how you are going to search for it. This will depend on clean data entry on the one hand but also on which search functionalities your database offers. Wordy entries in free text fields often result in a lot of irrelevant search results. By keeping those entries concise and compartmentalizing information in different fields you can search more precisely – if your database offers the possibility to search for the information in those fields separately.

So, with all the fields you are writing down, always think about how “future you” will be able to look that information up. It will help a lot with making sure you are not missing something important.

Second Step: But does it work like that?

After you have written all that, put yourself to the test. Catalog a few objects. 10-20 objects are a good testing sample. Make sure that they are from a large variety of objects. Documenting 10 plates will get you nowhere. Documenting a plate, a dress, a toy, a tool, a radio, and a taxidermied badger will give you a lot of variety. Your collections policy will help you pick a good sample. All objects that could potentially end up in your collection should be easy to catalog with the guideline you are creating.

While cataloging, you will notice that you have missed some fields and some aren’t fitting for all cases. Perhaps you need to use different ones. Perhaps you need to add new ones if your database allows for it. Perhaps you just have to specify how to enter information in the same field differently for some object groups.

Adjust and share

Make adjustments to your document and/or your database so you can really catalog everything that might come into your collection. Once you are satisfied, share the document, that you might now call a “cataloging guideline” or “documentation help file” with everybody who uses the database, not just those who are doing the cataloging. It will help people who only use the database for searching know where they can find the relevant information.

But I don’t have a database

If you don’t have a database yet but just an assortment of excel spreadsheets and/or index cards, writing such a guideline and doing a few tests in an excel spreadsheet that contains the fields you have in mind will help you determine what your new system needs to be capable of. Furthermore, you can use this spreadsheet for documenting your collection now according to your guideline and later you have that data ready to import into your new system.

Now onward to tackle the mess!

Once you are at this point you have achieved something amazing: from now on, whatever is cataloged in your database will get a clean, easy to retrieve record. Sometimes, there might be slight adaptions to the guideline necessary, but by and large everybody knows how data should be entered and if you find it isn’t, you do have your document to point them to how it is done correctly. Introducing new colleagues, no matter if paid or volunteers, to cataloging in your institution will get much easier.

Now you can work on getting the rest of the database in better state.

What kind of mess do you have?

Not all messes are created equal. Sometimes the core of the records is okay, they only need some adjustments and corrections here and there. Others are so bad that the only thing you can do is to quarantine those records in an area of your database (for example by moving them to a separate department, marking them with a checkbox, or giving them a special classification like “legacy record”) where you can look them up as a reference but do new, clean records for all your objects.

Creating new records for old stuff

If the latter is your case, you now have your guideline to follow through. You might want to check back in your “legacy records” if there is any information you might have missed. Sometimes there are hints to donors you can’t find in the paperwork. Make sure your new record notes this as “according to old record #…” so it is clear where the information comes from and that it probably has to be verified. Some systems allow to link to the old record and it might be a smart idea to do that.

Improving existing records one step at a time

If you decide that your existing records aren’t too bad overall, they just need to be corrected here and there, you need to break down this task down into manageable steps. A lot of database messes were created because someone started the work with good intentions but then couldn’t follow through and someone else picked up without any idea what their predecessor did or had in mind.

Knowing that, you will of course create a document with your database improvement strategy so if you have to leave off for some reason whoever comes after you knows what you did and why you did it.

Often, it is easiest to focus on one single field and correct that throughout the database than trying to rectify all the fields in one record at once. The repetitiveness of the task helps with speeding it up. For example, take all the tools and make sure their records show the right term in the material thesaurus, usually “metal” or “wood”, sometimes both. Then move on to the household items and do the same. Or stay with the tools, but this time, you are rectifying the classifications, so the “gooseneck chisel”, “chisel, carving”, “gouge”, and “pick” can all be found under “chisel” and get sub-classifications depending on their use or form. In no time you will have become an expert in the different types of chisels, so you get much faster in classifying them.

Involving Interns and Volunteers

It is easy to see how some of this work can be delegated to dedicated volunteers or interns. If they have good attention to detail they should be well able to take over some of those corrections. And since they are only correcting one area of an object record in a defined set of objects at a time, the results are much easier to check than if you would have asked them to do a whole new record for an object.

Do paperwork and database match?

Just like you went through material and classification, one step will involve going through your paperwork and making sure that everything you have a Deed of Gift for is recorded as gift and everything you have an invoice for is recorded as purchase. Again, you work in steps that make sense, in this case perhaps you go folder by folder or year by year, depending how your files are organized.

You might end up with a lot of object records you don’t have paperwork for and on the other hand paperwork that doesn’t seem to match anything you find in your storage. Make sure your database has a field for noting that, too. And of course, what should be recorded how in it becomes part fo your cataloging guideline.

Ultimate Goal: The Treasure Trove

Your ultimate goal is that your database becomes your reliable friend. If everything else is messy, your database is the place where you have a tidy record that tells you what you know about the object – and sometimes what you don’t know. It will become your point of reference while working on improving your collection in the physical world.

Angela Kipp

Book: Unmanaged Collections

What does a jet have to do with managing previously unmanaged collections?

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A fighter jet seen from the front. Through the windshield you see the pilot's seat but because of a circular optical device between the viewer and the seat there is a reflection that looks as if there is a globe filled with green clouds inside. Photo by Andreas Glöckner via Pixabay
Photo by Andreas Glöckner via Pixabay

Simple answer:

Nothing.

More complex answer:

I am in the process of translating the book into German and sometimes there are hiccups. In chapter 4, I talk about the difficulties of enforcing access policies for your storage area. A process which, as we all know, comes with all sorts of difficulties, the problem of taking the key from someone being a humiliating gesture in our Western culture being not the least of it.

In the English original, there is the sentence:

“Enforce the access policy with the three ps: persistence, patience, and politeness.”

Needless to say, such sentences don’t translate well. Usually you just rephrase them and let go of the idea that you can find three words starting with the same letter in the other language. However, I think I did find a way this morning:

“Halten Sie mit „Drei G“ an Ihren Zugangsbeschränkungen fest: mit Geradlinigkeit, Geduld und Gutem Benehmen.”

Finding three words starting with the letter G with the same meaning like the original (although the third one is cheating a bit, using two words) was already a big win. But the even bigger win was that this way I now have the double meaning of 3 G in it, alluding to the g-forces in physics.

I could of course take that analogy and run with it, saying that when we change longstanding processes and habits like we inevitably do when we start improving things in our collections, it means that we accelerate things and take people out of where they are used to go and expecting to go. And as we know from physics, if we accelerate things, a force is applied to the one being accelerated, which can have unpleasant side effects.

But I don’t want to overburden that little sentence. Instead, just imagine me giggling slightly when you come across it reading the book. 🙂

Angela

Announcements, Articles

Focus on what you CAN do, not what you CAN’T

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In these past few weeks it seems that there were so many horrible things happening that just making a list of them feels overwhelming and exhausting. Some of the decisions of the current U.S. government have an impact on the global level, others hit people personally, some of whom are close friends. And then, there are those who seem to target the very core of our profession, like the shutting down of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the termination of grants already awarded by the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH).

It is hard not to lose all hope in this climate. And yet, aren’t we, as museum professionals, used to things not really looking pretty? Haven’t we battled budget and staff cuts before? Haven’t we brought uncomfortable truths in front of the eyes of our visitors and politicians before? Maybe the current crisis is not comparable to what we were confronted with before. But just as well, we are well trained in going against adversarial circumstances.

We have always done so with resilience, creativity, and, most of all, a sense of community. We might be spread out across the world and we might have spread ourselves thin by taking on too many responsibilities, but we are not alone. I have reached out to my network over the past few days to check in on some people, see how they are coping, and getting ideas of what can be done, because, in the end, focusing on what can’t be done never made anything better.

Ninja at a laptop, source: PenClipartVectors via pixabay (CC0)
A ninja sitting at a desk, typing away on a laptop.

Turns out that John E. Simmons had already started collecting what can be done to prepare for what is coming at us in something we registrars love: A list.

I contributed a few of my thoughts to it and we also asked some more colleagues to add to it. What I am posting here today is by no means a comprehensive and finalized list of what to think about and what to do, but it is a start. Feel free to add more ideas in the comments section, just like we enhance it going forward.

What Can We Do?

1. Apply the lessons that museums learned from Covid

  • A museum should have a plan for suddenly shutting down or having to reduce staff for a prolonged long period of time.
  • The plan should include cross-training for all staff so that a reduced staff can keep the institution functioning and care for the collections. Every staff member should be trained to do tasks that are normally not part of their duties so that they can help in the event of a prolonged emergency.
  • The plan should include what the museum can do to remain a destination for visitors during a crisis. This might include regulating the number of visitors in the museum at the any one time during a pandemic, reducing or eliminating admission fees for visitors during a prolonged financial crisis, and how responsibilities could be handled by a reduced staff. It is worth noting that a recent study revealed that art museums that charge admission spend an average of $100 per visitor but attract smaller audiences than free museums, and that there are costs associated with collecting admission fees that may not be recovered by the fee. Details can be found at https://news.artnet.com/art-world/us-museums-visitors-report-2622358).

2. Prepare the collections for long-term, low maintenance storage

by preparing the most sustainable and passive storage environment possible:

  • Improve the effectiveness of the collection storage furniture, containers, and supports to protect the collections (e.g., replace gaskets on doors, eliminate acidic materials, reduce lighting and UV in storage).
  • Keep the collection in order (each object in its proper place in storage) at all times (do not allow a backlog of out-of-place objects to build up).
  • Improve environmental controls and environmental monitoring procedures.
  • Maintain storage environment equipment in good order (e.g. replace filters, service equipment regularly, replace aging HVAC systems).

3. Protect the databases

  • Make sure that you have a fully up-to-date, readable copy of all important museum databases stored somewhere outside of the building, preferably in a hard format as well as electronic.
  • Make sure that both on-site and off-site databases are protected so they cannot be accessed by unauthorized personnel. Renew passwords and other project on a frequent, regular basis.
  • If the institution is forced to close, and you have a good backup copy, consider removing databases from the museum servers to protect confidential information.
  • When possible look into storing backup copies of your databases that are not only readable in a proprietary format of one vendor (who might be forced to hand your sensitive data over or might go out of business). If you database allows for it, export your important data as SQL tables or as comma separated values (.csv). Excel formats such as xlsx, xls, or ods are fine, too.
  • When possible move your sensitive data to trusted servers outside the U.S. that don’t belong to U.S. based companies who might be forced to hand your sensitive data over or delete your data.
  • As a rule of thumb: make access to your data for your trusted staff as easy as possible, but make deleting data from your database hard by setting up a robust rights management and whenever possible enable procedures to revert to earlier data entry points.

4. Update the institutional emergency preparedness plan

to include procedures for coping with sudden, prolonged shutdowns of the building.

5. Stock up on critical supplies

6. Download anything needed from federal websites

(such as the NPS Museum Handbook and Conserve O Grams or IMLS reports) immediately, while the information is still available. Store this data in a safe place that is only accessible to authorized personnel and make deleting those resources as hard as possible.

7. Keep in mind that most serious problem going forward will probably not be the cuts in federal funding

to the NIH, NEA, NSF, IMLS, etc., because most of this money goes to projects which can be postponed or funded by other sources (such as donations). The most serious problem will be the lack of funds resulting from damage done to the economy due to a combination of the rising deficit, increasing unemployment (e.g., the mass reductions in the federal workforce and corresponding loss of jobs in sectors that serve the federal workforce), and decreased tax revenues due to tax cuts for the wealthy, tariffs on imports, and cuts to social services. In other words, the predicted problems with the US economy are far more likely to be a bigger problem for museums than the loss of federal grant funds.

8. Reach out to your community and build strong networks

Let your community know that you need their support now more than ever.

Let them know that most small museums in their immediate area do not get federal funds directly, but do get support from their state humanities councils. Membership for these museums is usually less than $30 a year and they put the money to good use.

If you have lost funding from IMLS or NEH, let your community know. Here’s an example from a small museum explaining exactly what was lost:
“The termination of the NEH grant award and the loss of $25,000 are devastating for the Weston History & Culture Center. This funding was going to support our upcoming permanent exhibit…”

The people caring about your museum can write and phone their representatives to let them know they are not okay with what is happening right now.

Reach out to your colleagues in your area but also around the world. Local networks will make it easier to help each other out with supplies and hands-on tasks. Colleagues in other countries might be able to provide a safe space for your vulnerable data and might have had to deal with similar circumstances in the past, so might be able to contribute with knowledge and creative solutions.

Words of Cheer:

  • Museums existed long before the IMLS and other federal granting agencies, so they can survive this period, although many worthy projects and much research will be halted unless alternative funding can be found.
  • With preparation, museums can survive the coming crisis as they have survived other crises. There will be staff reductions and loss of opportunities, but with any luck, the situation will change within a few years.
  • Take a good look at your policies and procedures and investigate new laws and executive orders you are confronted with. Laws that are passed in a great hurry often contain contradictions and loopholes. Often asking for clarifications by authorities can slow processes down and work to your advantage. Often stalling a process in good faith can be much more effective than open opposition which puts you and your staff at risk.
  • Be prepared to be patient. Lawsuits and judicial decisions challenging the proposed changes will take time to go through the courts.
  • In the longer term, climate change and its effects on museum operations, the economy, and the behavior of the public is the greatest challenge to the future of museums, so the present crisis should be used to prepare for the future.

Best Advice:

If your institution does not have a plan for long-term survival during a financial crisis, the next pandemic, or climate change, get busy now to correct this deficit.

Helpful Information

  • Snider, Julianne. 2024. The Wheel is Already Invented: Planning for the Next Crisis. Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 20(2):347-359, DOI: 10.1177/15501906241232309
  • Susana Smith Bautista (2021)—How to Close a Museum. A Practical Guide (Rowman & Littlefield)
  • Christopher J. Garthe (2023)—The Sustainable Museum. How Museums Contribute to the Great Transformation (Routledge)

Some more notes

Share this resource freely with anyone you think needs to see this, no need to ask for permission. Add what applies to your special case. Let us know what we should add. Download, save, print, circulate.

Download List as PDF

Registrar Trek is hosted on a server in Germany and following EU laws. I am currently looking through all the plug-ins I use to make sure none of them collects and shares any personal data with the U.S. Or, in fact, anybody. I always was mindful not to collect any personal information but will double-check again if everything is safe.

Hang on in there, you are not alone!

Announcements

Heads up: Bug when buying Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections from Amazon

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A box with a stash of copies from managing previously unmanaged collections

Two things happened today:

I finally got my author’s copies of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections and I was notified that there is a problem with ordering the book from Amazon:

When you are ordering from Amazon.com and you are on the website of the paperback https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Previously-Unmanaged-Collections-Practical/dp/1538190648/ and then click on the “Kindle” version you are directed to the old 2016 edition of the book.

Conversely, if you go to Amazon in Germany or the UK and are on the “Kindle” version https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Angela-Kipp-ebook/dp/B0D7R1N7KC/ and then switch to the paperback version you get the old version of the paperback.

Just a heads-up, since I learned today that people bought the old version by accident that way.

I do, however recommend buying from your local bookshop or directly from the publisher (https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538190630/Managing-Previously-Unmanaged-Collections-A-Practical-Guide-for-Museums-Second-Edition) anyway.

Announcements

Egypt Calling is out!

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You might remember that in my New Year’s post I announced that a friend of mine is working on a book with a collections manager as main character, right? Guess what? It is out!

I am low-key proud that me talking about our profession so passionately inspired it. Well, kinda, we were touching the topic every now and then. Like the conversations with him and two friends of us (one writes horror and mystery, the other a fantasy) often go, it derailed completely from how something disappearing from a museum is among a registrar’s worst nightmares to the thought of what would happen if you realize one bright, new, early morning that, well, a whole seven feet high statue has simply disappeared from your well-guarded grounds.

Paul tackled the topic with his usual sense of humor and unusual talent for creating quirky characters. I added some reality check to it while at the same time granting enough artistic license to let it stay a riveting tale instead of becoming a novel about museum policies, loan procedures, and conflict of interest that it probably had become if I had written it. It kept me on the edge of my seat and laughing out loud so I highly recommend it, although my view is of course not really neutral.

Fun fact: While he wrote it, it inspired me to write a few chapters of a spin-off story where another statue, Leonardo, finds himself suddenly alive as a collateral damage of the events in the book. It is written from Leonardo’s point of view and you can imagine that it is quite confusing to find yourself standing on a pedestal in the middle of a museum. Especially if you haven’t been alive before. Ever. And your head is marble. This makes thinking…hard. Leonardo and his friend Betty, barista extraordinaire, even make a guest appearance in Paul’s book.

Anyway, in these dire times I feel we can all use some lighthearted humor and Egypt Calling provides you with plenty of it. If you are up for it, I here is the start of Leonardo’s story.

Egypt Calling is available here and in all bookstores: https://paulkater.com/egypt-calling.html

Announcements

Registrar Trek goes Roma and other news from a busy autumn

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Ah, autumn. The leaves are falling, the days get shorter, little kids stand you up at your own front door, demanding sweets to protect your house from harm, just like tradition dictates. And, oh, yes, flocks of registrars, collections managers, and documentation specialists travel all over the world to hold their secret – or not so secret – gatherings. ‘Tis the season!

I am just back from a trip to St. Pölten, Vienna, and Berlin and am preparing to head out to Zürich and Rome. I am looking forward to reconnect with familiar faces and get to know new ones at the European Registrars Conference. If you attend there, too, just say “hi”. I am happy to chat with you.

Street art, graffiti, a lion faces you. It has a punk style mane in Jamaican colors green, yellow and red and wears green glasses. It wears an "urban jungle" necklace and caption left reads "Sei stark" (be strong) and "Bleib sauber" (stay clean)
Street art in Berlin, metro station Kottbusser Tor. Found the artist on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urban_artists_berlin/

In other news, the Second Edition of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections is on its way. I just did the index, always the thing that has to wait until all the proofreading and typesetting is done. I can promise you it is looking promising: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538190630/Managing-Previously-Unmanaged-Collections-A-Practical-Guide-for-Museums-Second-Edition

If you are interested in what is new, you can catch me talking about the book online for Museum Studies LLC on Tuesday November 19 at 9 pm Continental Europe, 8 pm U.K., 3 pm Eastern, 2 pm Central, 1 pm Mountain, Noon Pacific, 11 am Alaska, 10 am Hawaii, Wednesday 9 am New Zealand, Wednesday 7 am Australian Eastern. You can register by writing to Webinar@MuseumStudy.com 

I hope you are enjoying spooky season and perhaps we see each other, soon!

Angela

Announcements

Let’s Talk Unmanaged Collections

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The new edition of “Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections” is in the making but not done. In fact, this post finds me bowed over my revising notes and frantically typing in all I have missed last time.

Time to open up the conversation, show you what I have done so far and comparing notes with you, the readers of the first edition, students from my courses, or just people generally interested in the topic.

Time for you to grab the keys – or the mike!

Calico cat grabbing computer keyboard

Join the free online talk!

Museum Study will host a free Unmanaged Collections Talk on Tuesday December 19 at 9 pm Continental Europe, 8 pm U.K., 3 pm Eastern North America, 2 pm Central, 1 pm Mountain, Noon Pacific, 11 am Alaska, 10 am Hawaii, Wednesday December 20 9 am New Zealand, Wednesday 7 am Australian Eastern.

How can you register for it?

Simple. Just send an email to Webinar@MuseumStudy.com

You have a question or idea but don’t want to join or speak at the event

No problem. Just comment on here or email me at angela.kipp@museumsprojekte.de


#unmanagedcollections #wheredoIstart #neglectedcollections #registrartrek

Announcements, Articles

EODEM – It is here! But why should I care?

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EODEM 1.0, the Exhibition Object Data Exchange Model, was officially released on September 1st. But why should you, a registrar, be excited about those five letters? Isn’t it just another standard in a museum world that doesn’t lack standards – but is short of people, money, time, and, every so often, the institutional buy-in to enforce those standards?

Well, first of all, it isn’t a standard: it is an exchange model. That’s right, this isn’t something that will force you to restructure your data – although, seriously, there are good reasons to do so while you are at it, and EODEM itself is defined as a profile of the LIDO standard. EODEM is something that will enable you to exchange the data you already have about your objects with other colleagues. Something you most likely already do when you are lending, borrowing, and/or co-operating with other institutions for exhibitions.

So the tedious task of typing data from a spreadsheet or email you received from another institution could become a thing of the past with EODEM! If it is implemented, you can just import the EODEM file your colleague sent you and the information will appear in exactly the fields in your database where you need them to be. It doesn’t matter what collections management system your colleague uses. If one system can create an EODEM file from its data, you will be able to import that EODEM file in whatever system you are using!

Logo of the Exhibition Object Data Exchange Model, yellow letters EODEM with an arrow pointing from the E through the O and another coming from the M
EODEM logo

There is one big if, though: just because EODEM is out doesn’t mean it is already in your collections management system. The good news: EODEM was developed together with vendors, so, right from the start, this model was built in a way that should make it easy to implement it in most collections management systems. The bad news? Vendors of collections management systems are not big software companies, just as the museum field isn’t a big industry. So, there isn’t an armada of developers idly waiting for EODEM to be ready for them to bring it into their systems. Instead, EODEM is competing with a lot of other things to be implemented, developed, and/or fixed.

And guess what? That’s where you come in.

The more users of a particular collections management system ask their vendor about when EODEM will be available to them, the more likely it will be to get a top spot on the roadmap. So, what you, yes, you, the only registrar on staff, the loan arranger, the museum professional who wears far too many hats, can do to export and import your exhibition data with a click of a button in the future, is simply to ask your vendor when you will see that option in your own database.

Nagging someone until they finally do it just because it is easier than saying “no” or “we will see about that” to you every single time sounds familiar to you? Ha! Thought so! It is basically the job description of a registrar. Which means, you will get EODEM if you put your mind to it.

You got this!

Angela

Learn more about EODEM:

All about EODEM on the CIDOC website:

EODEM

EODEM specifications and samples:

EODEM – Specifications and samples

Rupert Shepherd keeps you up to date with the development on his personal website:

EODEM update 8 – launch
Announcements, Articles, Book: Unmanaged Collections

Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections – Revisited, revised, revamped!

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What do you want to see in it?

A calico cat sleeping on a copy of the book Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections
This is important!

It has been seven years since “Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections” first saw the light of day. Rowman & Littlefield kindly asked me if I want to do a new edition and I am inclined to shout: “Heck, yeah!”

But it has been a long while since the first edition and basically, I said all I had to say back then. So, I am handing it over to you: What do you want to see enhanced? What did you miss? What was unnecessary and can be “deaccessioned” in the new edition?

Also, I like to include more of your stories. Has the book helped you tackling a messy collection? Do you like to write a short real-world example? Please, get in contact, I would be delighted.

Have you used the book and it shows because it is dog-eared and full of notes? Please, I want to see those photos of the book in action! I also would very much like to show them on here.

Look into a room with a table leaning upright against a window and some saw horses, indistinct clutter lying about.The world has changed, but some things didn’t. Even after so many years not active here, you can still reach me under angela.kipp AT museumsprojekte.de

With the overtaking of twitter by some people I would rather not be affiliated with, and not making profit of me, I have changed to Mastodon as the friendlier alternative. You can find me there as @registrartrek@glammr.us although I am still in the process of figuring out what and how much I want to do over there.

Ah, yes, the Registrar Trek Blog is its own instance as well, you can get updates by following @admin@world.museumsprojekte.de from your Mastodon account.

Take care and I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Angela

Announcements

»Registrars Deutschland e.V.« get the Riegel – KulturBewahren award 2018

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Professional association gets the award endowed with 2,200 Euro

On the 8th of November 2018 the award “Riegel – KulturBewahren. Preis für Schutz, Pflege und Ausstellen von Kunst- und Kulturgut” (The Lock Bar – Preserving Culture. Award for safeguarding, caring and exhibiting of art and cultural heritage) was granted. The award that comes with an endowment of 2,200 Euro went to the »Registrars Deutschland e.V.«

Happy winners – designated laudator: Professor Dr Susanne Kähler (laudator), Nicole Schmidt and Volker Thiel (Registrars Deutschland e.V.) and Berthold Schmitt (initiator „Riegel – KulturBewahren“) (left to right)
© SchmittART / Foto: Hedwig Schweda

Perfect managers of time and data
“They must be state of the art, know what’s ethical, what’s legal and what’s efficient. They need a stern and discerning eye, but also a good sense of proportion by not asking for too much in regards to security from not so well-off institutions. Resolution and diplomacy are likewise important skills.” This is how laudator Susanne Kähler, professor for Museum Studies at the HTW Berlin, outlined the occupational profile of the registrar.

Central hub of manifold functions
The association Registrars Deutschland e.V. was founded 2004, one of the reasons being to actively raise awareness and understanding for the work and the significance of the registrar in museums, collections and exhibitions. In the meantime, the association has more than 140 members who meet for annual assemblies, workshops and further trainings. Networking is done on an international level.

Reasons for the award 2018
Part of a registrar’s job is everything that has to do with the movement and storage of artworks and cultural heritage inside and between museums. Furthermore, the occuptional profile encompasses transport, (inter-)national loans, packing, documentation and registration, as well as cataloging, security and insurance – registrars are perfect managers of time and data (Kähler).
In Germany, registrars are known for over 30 years for a wide range of manual, technical, commercial and legal processes regarding the handling of artworks and cultural objects of all kind. In spite of this central function this professional guild is working comparably invisible inside the cultural institutions. The award Riegel – KulturBewahren is aiming to make a contribution to foster understanding for the work and significance of the registrar. One of this aims is to develop commonly approved standards and enforce them throughout the area of responsibility of the registrar.

Volker Thiel and Nicole Schmidt, chair and vice chair of the Registrars Deutschland e.V. have accepted the award and the 2,200 Euro grant on behalf of the registrars. Both were clearly moved by the attention and recognition that the award Riegel – KulturBewahren means.
Around 70 experts from museums, associations and businesses took part in the awarding ceremony at the Bach-Archiv in Leipzig. The event on the 8th of November was part of the 5th international conference “KULTUR!GUT!SCHÜTZEN! Sicherheit und Katastrophenschutz für Museen, Archive und Bibliotheken” (Culture!Property/good!Preserve! Security and emergency preparedness for museums, archives and libraries).

 
Outstanding private commitment

“Riegel – KulturBewahren”: solid protection for art and cultural heritage
© SchmittART / Foto: Hedwig Schweda, Leipzig
Again in 2018 the grant is completely funded from private donors. It stems from companies that offer solutions and know-how that help to properly preserve, protect and exhibit artworks and cultural heritage. The following companies support “Riegel – KulturBewahren 2018″:

• ArchiBALD Regalanlagen GmbH & Co. KG, Dissen (Superior)
• Dussmann Service Deutschland GmbH, Leipzig (Sponsoring)
• hasenkamp Holding GmbH, Köln (Premium)
• IBB • Ingenieurbüro Bautechnischer Brandschutz, Leipzig (Premium)
• Image Access GmbH, Wuppertal (Classic)
• miniClima Schönbauer GmbH, Wiener Neustadt (Classic)
• SchmittART. Beratung │ Konzeption | Public Relations, Leipzig (Classic)
• Tandem Lagerhaus und Kraftverkehr Kunst GmbH, Frechen (Superior)
• Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH, Köln (Premium)

The Riegel – KulturBewahren
There are many awards for creating artworks. But when it comes to preserving mobile art and artifacts there is next to nothing comparable in Germany and Europe, at least no awards that go along with a grant. It is the aim of “Riegel – KulturBewahren. Preis für Schutz, Pflege und Ausstellen von Kunst- und Kulturgut” (The Lock Bar – Preserving Culture. Award for safeguarding, caring and exhibiting of art and cultural heritage) to change this. The “Riegel” was first awarded in 2016, the minimum grant is 500 Euro.

The awarding of the “Riegel – KulturBewahren 2018″ is a common initiative of SiLK – SicherheitsLeitfaden Kulturgut (security guideline for cultural heritage), Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe (Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance) and SchmittART.

The award itself is an initiative of the professional periodical “KulturBetrieb. Magazin für innovative und wirtschaftliche Lösungen in Museen, Bibliotheken und Archiven” (Culture business. Periodical for innovative and economical selutions in museums, libraries and archives) and the online portal “KulturBewahren. Forum für Bewahrung, Pflege, Sicherheit und Präsentation von Kunst- und Kulturgut” (Preserving culture. Forum for preservation, caring, safeguarding and exhibiting of art and cultural heritage) .

Information / Contact
SchmittART, Wielandstraße 5, D-04177 Leipzig
Dr. Berthold Schmitt
Tel 0049 / 341 / 5296524
Mobil 0049 / 1522 / 2807125
mail@schmitt-art.de
www.riegel-preis-kulturbewahren.de