Work on collections-level description has often been carried out in cases
where object-level documentation did not exist, as a prelude to more
detailed cataloguing activity. This is especially the case with collections
surveys in universities e.g. Scotland, University of Oxford, Northern
Universities Collections Survey, (and one of its follow-ups, the University
of Manchester Orphan Collections Research Project). It is clearly better to
have a meaningful description of a collection than no documentation at all,
especially when 'museum quality' collections are held outside of traditional
museums.

Apart from the desire to increase awareness of (and access to) collections
it has to be said that one of the primary motivations behind
collections-level description projects has sometimes been the political
facilitation of collections rationalisation. At times this has been stated
quite explicitly, for instance the collections-level description of Dutch
Medical collections circa 1997 was intended, amongst other things, to
support the transfer of items between institutions (and maybe even encourage
disposals). List serve members may have differing opinions as to the
desirability of that, though I offer the observation without prejudice.

Neil Handley, Curator
British Optical Association Museum
The College of Optometrists
42 Craven Street, London. WC2N 5NG
Tel: 020 7839 6000. Fax: 020 7839 6800.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.college-optometrists.org/college/museum


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
> Nick Poole
> Sent: 07 February 2002 15:22
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Collection Level Descriptions
>
>
> Trevor,
>
> Collection level descriptions are the next step up from
> describing objects. Lots of objects make a collection, which then
> becomes an identifiable entity in itself. The aim is to try and
> create a standard approach to describing those collections, and
> the way they relate to institutions. The project I work on,
> Cornucopia (http://www.cornucopia.org.uk), is a database of lots
> of museums, with individual descriptions of their collections
> (divided by subject - eg archaeology, geology, costumes etc etc).
> If you have a look at it, you'll see that the information is
> separated into three 'levels' - institution, collection, and
> 'star objects'/strengths.
>
> One of the main reasons why there is so much interest in this
> area is that people want to be able to find what museums have in
> their collections. They don't necessarily want to know each and
> every last mollusc, but they do want to know that you have
> holdings relating to Natural Sciences or Biology. It's a step
> towards making information about museums more accessible and
> comprehensible, particularly via online services.
>
> The difficulty comes in that the phrase 'Collections Level
> Description' is also used to talk about the various means of
> achieving this accessibility. Specifically, there is a metadata
> schema for Collections Description which as been derived from the
> 'Research Support Libraries Programme' (RSLP), which seems to
> have real potential as a model of how to structure the
> information about your collections.
>
> (Metadata is structured information about resources (eg a
> collection, an object, anything you like, really), and all this
> means is that a standard approach is being developed by which
> people will describe their collections and then make them
> available online. By adopting a standard approach, it makes life
> easier for both people and search engines to find the information
> about collections via the Internet.
>
> You can find out more at the website of the UK Office of Library
> and Information Networking (UKOLN) - http://www.ukoln.ac.uk -
> they run the Collections Description Focus and are an excellent
> source of information about how it all fits together.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> Nick
>
>
> Nick Poole
> ICT Adviser
> Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries
> 16 Queen Anne's Gate
> London
> SW1H 9AA
>
> Tel 020 7273 1410
>
> New! Visit the Cornucopia database of UK museum collections at
> http://www.cornucopia.org.uk
>
> Visit the Resource website at http://www.resource.gov.uk
>
> Visit the Peoples Network website at http://www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk
>
> Join the Resourcenews email list at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Trevor Reynolds [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 1:55 PM
> > To:   [log in to unmask]
> > Subject:           Collection Level Descriptions
> >
> > There seems to be a lot of work going on about Collection Level
> Descriptions.
> >
> > Can anyone tell me what exactly they are and why anyone would
> want to use them?
> >
> > Trevor Reynolds
> >
> >
> >
> > Trevor Reynolds
> > Collections Registrar, English Heritage
> > Room G01, 23 Savile Row, London, W1S 2ET, UK
> > tel: +44 (0)20 7973 3482 fax: +44 (0)20 7973 3001 (GTN  3503 3482)
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
> > English Heritage
> > Telephone 020 7973 3000
> > Facsimile 020 7973 3001
> > _________________________________________________________________
>
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