What information do museums require to do their job?
Broadly speaking, museum information falls into two categories:
Much of the factual information described above is held within a collections management system which logs and controls all activity relating to the collection itself. Such systems should both control and record the work of managing a museum collection, providing an audit trail of past activity and an up-to-date inventory of the museum's current holdings. Collections management cuts across all of a museum's functions, not just the "acquires and conserves" aspect. For example, one aspect of collections management which is particularly complex, and has a high profile, is the preparation and deployment of exhibitions.
Interpretive information typically has a rather separate existence. For example, although the preparation of exhibition catalogues is logically part of the process of setting up and managing an exhibition, it is frequently dealt with as part of the museum's separate publications activity. Museum Publications Departments typically produce a full range of printed material, from posters and brochures to detailed catalogues. Some museum publications departments are working in new media (e.g., CD-ROM) as well.
Museum information can be both complex and variable. Next to nothing may be known about one object; while the next one to arrive may have a complete boxfile of supporting material describing its history and use. It exists in multiple media and formats (paper, images, audio, ...) and multiple scripts (for example Greek inscriptions on objects). It deals in uncertainty: the exact date when an object was made may not be known, but an earliest date can be recorded.
A computer-based museum information system should describe and draw together, not replace, the primary sources from which the information is drawn. Authenticity is everything! (This even applies to outdated documentation systems: the handwriting on old index cards is frequently used to determine the author of a particular attribution.) Also, no information should ever be thrown away. The fact that an art historian now thinks that a picture is not, after all, by Rembandt should be added to, and not replace, all the earlier attributions that the work has had. In a few years another art historian may take the opposite view! So the information about each museum object should gradually build up over time.
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