posted 05-09-2008 09:49 PM            

As to procedures for noting condition, I don't know. Most of my items have no damage, but if something does, I merely write an objective assessment of the condition issues, including the size and character of any flaws.

posted 05-10-2008 10:19 PM            

Many thanks for your response and for the info about your cataloging project -- esp because my question about condition reports relates to my own cataloging project. I'm trying to develop a database in Filemaker Pro, which I've never used before. Which means this is a more extensive project than I had originally imagined.

Good brain exercise, I guess.

I wonder if it's possible to post an image of one of your pages? I'll try to do the same...when I get there!

posted 05-11-2008 11:12 AM            

I don't catalog my silver that way, but I recently developed a Filemaker template for the Anthropology Collections I curate - and I've used Filemaker for other projects for many years. It's an excellent choice. One of the nice things is that you can reconfigure the fields and layout easily at any time, so even if you get well into the project and find something you'd rather do differently it's not hard to do. It's also handy to create multiple layouts for the same records - for example, to print one-line entries so you can do a simple list as well as the detailed full-page entries, or an on-screen layout and a print one.

Having been a data specialist for years (among other things), the most important step in designing such a database is the work that goes in before you even begin. Even though Filemaker makes changes easy this remains true. Take some time and sit down (I often still do this stage with pencil and paper) and think about all the variables you might want to record, and their possible values. Be sure to include a Notes or Comments section as a reasonably large text block, and that can cover most of the special condition notes, dimension notes, presentation engravings, etc. - but just what goes there will depend on what you feel a need to create separate fields for, which will be a matter of your personal interests both in what you collect and how you choose to classify and record the data.

As we would always tell students, the 'correct' design for a database is different for every researcher, for every dataset, and for every set of research questions. Same for collecting. In books and probably online you can find example forms for recording collections, and you can use these as a base, but ultimately the beauty here is that you can make the catalog fit your specific needs.

Back in the old days we would often refer students to the old mainframe SPSS manual, which had wonderful chapters on database design - it could also serve as an introductory statistics text, it was just that good. You don't really need that level for this kind of project, but the key principle of planning the project well as the first step remains. It's also a time to think creatively about how to think about what you collect, which is an interesting exercise in its own right!

posted 05-12-2008 10:41 PM            

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm going to need plenty. I can visualize the most glorious database, but getting there.... I've read the manual, I've read "The Missing Manual." But I'm completely new to the world of databases, so it's going to be a long road.

Still, it's an appealing discipline, and I have my goal. And, even before your advice, I realized I would need to plan a bit more before I dive in.

I have wondered (yes, I really have) what all the folks who would have been taxonomists in the Victorian era would be doing nowadays. And now I know. They're database engineers.