An interesting feature of museums in many countries is that they are very willing, nay eager, to adopt standards for their information resources. In the past this has applied to the analysis of object records. Within the U.K., the Museum Documentation Association (http://www.open.gov.uk/mdocassn/) has coordinated the development of a standards framework for object records. In its current incarnation (as SPECTRUM) this framework also includes procedural guidelines for collections management activities. Internationally, the Documentation Committee of the International Council of Museums (CIDOC: http://www.cidoc.icom.org/) has prepared a more generalized relational model of museum object information.
We have already noted that museums actively use standard thesauri and terminology resources such as the Art and Architecture Thesaurus.
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