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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
This document by the Research Information Network is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License
Dinant sur Muese 1839, Joseph Mallard William Turner, Laing Art Gallery
©Tyne & Wear Museums
Gold earrings from the Kyme Treasure. Greek, about 330-300 BC.
From Kyme, Asia Minor (modern Turkey) © The Trustees of The British Museum
An examination of the material collected from the Neolithic site on the Island of Westray.
From Behind The Scenes (1987) by Dr Lawrence Mound. © The Natural History Museum, London
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Table of contents
Acknowledgements 4
Summary 5
1. Introduction 8
1.1. Context of the study 8
1.2. Approach 9
3. Researchers’ needs 13
3.1. The importance of accessing the ‘real thing’ 13
4. Museums’ perspectives 27
4.1. Online finding aids and discovery services 27
Acknowledgements
Pete Dalton, Director and Angela Conyers, Senior Research
Fellow, at Evidence Base, Birmingham City University wish to
acknowledge the support of the following: Sarah McNicol and
Sukhvinder Chima of Evidence Base, Sian Everitt, Birmingham
Institute of Art and Design; Philip Kiberd, MLA West
Midlands, consultants to the project and Michael Jubb and
Stéphane Goldstein of the Research Information Network.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Summary
Researchers’ needs
The evidence gathered by the report, shows that:
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Museums’ perspectives
A number of museums have begun to develop online finding aids,
though our study suggests that in doing this, only a few have the
needs of researchers in mind. The UK-wide services currently
available do not yet provide the detailed information researchers
need. The People’s Network Discover service has great potential,
but its usefulness will depend on the willingness and ability of
individual museums and other collections to make their records
available online.
Our study shows that many museums seem reluctant to put their
records online: because of large cataloguing backlogs and because
of concerns about records being inaccurate and/or incomplete.
Many curators over-estimate both the resources they need to
make existing information useful to researchers and the technical
barriers to putting their records online in their current state. They
also under-estimate the value of those records to researchers.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
possible, clear criteria for determining whether and in what to make researchers aware of the nature and value of their
circumstances collection-level or group, as distinct from item- current and new online finding aids. Museums need to work
level, descriptions are appropriate. with collections management software suppliers to ensure
that their records are findable through Google and other
5. Including images and contextual information:
search engines.
Online catalogues should, wherever possible, include
images, notes about and links to, sources of relevant 9. Funding and collaboration:
contextual information. MLA and Collections Trust should work with funders and
other agencies to encourage and support projects to develop
6. Engaging with researchers: and enhance high-quality online catalogues and particularly
Researchers should be encouraged to submit amendments those that involve collaboration between researchers and
and enhancements to catalogue records, and curators should curators responsible for several collections.
establish systems for handling such input from researchers,
10. Linking library and museum catalogues:
including using Web 2.0 technologies where appropriate.
MLA and other agencies should work with museums
7. Cross searching and linking: and libraries to explore the potential for linking databases
All online museum and collection databases should be made of objects and of textual information.
available for cross searching through the Collections Trust/
Culture 24 Integrated Architecture Project.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
1. Introduction
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
1.2 Approach
Data collection Definitions
The study was conducted primarily through desk research and Finding aids and resource discovery services
in-depth interviews with: Adapting the definition used in Researchers and discovery
• researchers in four subject areas services: Behaviour, perceptions and needs (RIN, 2006),
resource discovery services can be defined as “…the means that
• representatives from strategic organisations
researchers use to discover and locate objects and artefacts that
• key officers in relevant museums and collections, and might be relevant to their work”. This report uses the definition
• staff working on relevant projects in the area. of a finding aid given by May Chang as a “…descriptive access
tool (such as an inventory, index, or guide) created by archives,
A total of 57 researchers of postdoctoral standing were
libraries, and museums to locate source material” (Chang, 2000).
interviewed in addition to 10 PhD candidates. Appendix 1
provides more detail of the methodology employed. Researcher
For the purposes of this study, the focus is on researchers
defined as ‘postdoctoral level staff employed by higher education
Scope
institutions’, along with PhD candidates. This focus excludes
The study focuses on four areas of study chosen to provide a
many who would fit under a broader definition of researcher,
range of subjects and disciplines in the UK, and to take account of
including those outside higher education, local studies groups and
possible differences between them:
students.
• archaeology
Collection-level description
• art history A collection may be viewed as the total holdings of a museum,
• social and economic history, and or a specific group of objects within it, arranged either by
subject (archaeology, art history, etc), medium (pottery, prints,
• earth sciences, including palaeontology.
etc), donor, collector, or by another grouping appropriate to a
particular museum. A collection-level description provides a
broad subject breakdown of a museum’s holdings based on any of
these groupings.
Item-level description
A description of a specific item held within a collection, for
example a painting, artefact or object.
Bulk-level cataloging
The practice of grouping together for cataloguing purposes items
of a similar type where an individual item level description is not
considered necessary, for example a box of sherds.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
The precise nature of the relationship between the interest mainly to researchers, rather than the general public:
large public-facing museums and galleries and the Of course, some collections are intended primarily as a
complex science of maintaining exhibits and promoting resource for specialist researchers; but even research
scholarship cannot be ignored. There is a clear danger collections have to be promoted if they are to reach a wide
that the many demands placed on institutions will, range of specialists.
unless resources rise to match expectations, undermine In Fragments of the World, Suzanne Keene (2005) identifies
traditional scholarship. It is not impossible to do many research as one of the four perspectives from which collections
different things simultaneously. However it will be can be viewed. She argues that more collections-based research
increasingly costly to do so. (Travers, 2006) would help to demonstrate and enhance the value of collections,
especially when those values are not obviously economic ones.
There are concerns as to whether many museums now see
She urges museums to see services for researchers as a central
developing resources to support researchers as a priority. function, with research provision effectively marketed.
Museums are of different types, with different funding
mechanisms and different priorities, and researchers are
Museums should see services to
only one of the many groups they serve.
researchers as a central function,
with research provision effectively
marketed.
The MLA’s Designation Challenge Fund (DCF) and Renaissance
in the Regions programmes have enabled several museums to
develop online resources, to the benefit of researchers as well as
other user groups. Within the changing environment of museums
themselves, research still occupies an important place. A report
commissioned by the NMDC on the value of national museums
(Travers, 2004) pointed to the number of articles in refereed
journals written by museum staff.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
3. Researchers’ needs
While the study of museum I wouldn’t dream of talking about an object if I hadn’t
seen it.
objects and artefacts has remained
fundamental in several academic Looking at things in reproduction...is inevitably an
impoverished experience.
disciplines, the nature of that study
has changed over the years. This An important reason for engaging with the object itself includes
section draws on in-depth interviews the additional information that can be gained from handling:
with researchers to provide their There is something very particular about the handling of
perspectives on finding objects an object, being able to examine it, turn it upside down,
feel the weight, for you to understand it. Until you have
relevant to their research, and their
actually held an axehead in your hand you wouldn’t know
use of, and expectations for, online that it fits the hand very well….when you see a picture of
finding aids. an iron age torque you need to feel the weight to know
you couldn’t wear that all day as you’d get a headache, so
its ceremonial.
In all four subject areas, researchers stress the importance of challenges for museums.
seeing and handling the objects themselves, rather than relying Some researchers also see a need to re-interpret older
on a description or a digital image. descriptions in the light of new evidence and new knowledge, and
to see for themselves that the descriptions provided by museums
It is nearly always a case of finding out where something
are accurate. Some will go further, to challenge and subsequently
is and going to take a look.
enhance information provided by museums as a result of their
own engagement with the objects in question:
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
one a researcher was searching for. Further details of researchers’ Curators who have been in post for a number of
experiences and expectations in visiting museums to access years or are specialists in a particular field are
objects are presented in section 3.4. valued for their in-depth knowledge of the
collections and their ability to provide more
In social and economic history, some researchers feel that objects
information than can be found in museum
are important because there are few written records available or
catalogues. The one-to-one support which
there are gaps in other types of evidence such as oral testimony.
many curators provide is seen as a significant
For researchers interested in the history of material culture, the
strength of museums:
study of objects is central to their approach. There is evidence
in many subject areas of a growing interest in how objects were They [curators] are the invisible
made and in the social context in which they were used. For resource…intangible assets.
researchers interested in such approaches, traditional finding
aids which rely on a description of the object, its size and what it Curators are very important
was made of may no longer adequate. For almost all researchers, because objects are less directly
however, a full description of the object is not a substitute for a readable than an archive.
visit to view the objects relevant to their research. They need to
Many researchers are aware of the
identify which museums have relevant objects so that they can
importance of framing their queries as
plan visits.
precisely as possible in order to get the most out of the curator’s
time. This may involve obtaining information from other
3.2. Approaches to finding objects sources such as a reference in a journal, a photograph or digital
Researchers who wish to study artefacts and objects first have image. Then, prior to a visit, a curator might be able to send a
to find what objects are available and where they are currently catalogue extract to provide further information for a researcher,
held, before deciding whether to arrange to see them. This section so an object’s relevance can be assessed for research relevance
reports on how researchers set about finding and locating objects, and value. This direct approach is time-consuming, but most
the most common methods being through direct contact with researchers regard it as highly effective.
museums and through references in scholarly literature. Most
researchers, however, use a combination of methods. Using scholarly literature
For many researchers, the scholarly literature provides an
Contacting museums directly: The curator’s role important source of information about the location of objects
The most frequent way of finding out about objects is through relevant to their research. For this approach to work effectively,
direct contact with one or more museums, or by making a it is clearly important that past research relating to objects is well
preliminary visit. Sometimes, researchers approach museums documented, with links to any published research papers being
based on ‘common knowledge’ of where they might expect an included in the object record in the finding aid (this is further
object to be. In other cases, they contact a wide range of museums explored in section 3.5). In earth sciences in particular, scholarly
by email, letter or phone. If the museum does not have relevant articles provide an important source of information about where
objects, researchers often expect a curator to recommend other objects are located, as there is a long-standing requirement that
museums to approach. Museum curators play a significant role any object described in an article accepted for publication should
in assisting researchers to locate objects. It is thus a cause of be deposited in a museum and that the article should carry a
frustration to some researchers that contact details for curators museum accession number. This helps future researchers to
are difficult to find on museum websites. More experienced follow up and build on previous work. But it is not a requirement
researchers often have longstanding links with particular in the other subject areas we investigated.
curators:
Printed catalogues and guides
You get contacts through talking to other people. For
example, someone says, ‘You must talk to…’. You find out Some researchers use printed guides to locate objects. These
about smaller collections especially in this way. include individual museum guides and catalogues, those
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Institutions in Southern England (Arnold-Foster,1999) – and materials that I thought they might have. They didn’t
subject specific guides, such as the Register of Natural Science have much, but quite by chance I found the key piece of
Collections in NW England (Hancock & Pettitt, 1981). In evidence I required. It was just luck that I found it.
palaeontology, the main reference source is World Palaeontology
Happenstance and serendipity remain important as means of
Collections, last published in printed form in 1986 and now being
discovery:
updated in electronic format. In archaeology, the Council for
British Archaeology (CBA) research reports, or other project or Objects have found me! Ideas can be triggered by events
subject studies, often provide details on museum holdings. But such as a conference or tangential reading…If you’re
such guides, where still available, are often out of date. looking for A you tend to find B, C and D along the way
and you store them away to explore when you have the
Personal contacts and networks opportunity.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
3.3 Use of online finding aids specific online finding aids such as ARTstor, FENSCORE and the
Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS). But most preferred the direct
Many researchers developed their information-finding strategies and personal approach to searching a museum’s collection.
well before the emergence of online finding aids. But particularly
when they start to research new areas, they increasingly include Lack of awareness is clearly a
online search tools as part of their search strategy. Several factor in researchers’ low use of the
researchers said that they would start with Google, even though it
available online finding aids.
is unlikely at present that they would pick up museum collections
from a Google search.
Lack of awareness is clearly a factor in researchers’ low use of the
available online finding aids. Some feel that little is being done to
make them aware of the recently-developed services, and most
who have used them found them by chance:
There are useful sites and tools out there, but you just
tend to stumble across them if you are lucky.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
• undertaking sampling analysis of an object It’s important to be able to meander through the world of
(sometimes resulting in its destruction). the object. The historical or scientific order is just one way
In addition to access within a museum, some researchers of looking at things.
expect to be able to borrow materials for research purposes. In
palaeontology and archaeology in particular, researchers may …the advantages of browsing – a bunch of fossils may
request long term loans of objects for the purpose of chemical be put in the collection, no-one knows much about them
analysis. and then you find it may be in the wrong drawer and is a
different species. ‘Serendipitous discoveries’ happen often.
Most researchers feel that it is important to ‘prove’ to curators
that they have done all that they can to find out about the object
For many researchers, the
prior to their visit, believing that specific enquiries are greeted
more sympathetically. This highlights the important role that
opportunity to engage with an expert
high-quality finding aids can play by enhancing the information curator is a significant benefit from
available before a researcher undertakes a visit. visiting a museum to gain access an
object and many museum curators
value the contact with researchers to
enhance their own knowledge and
perspectives.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Limited hours available for visits, and delays in securing museums often have difficulty in providing such information:
an appointment
Sometimes there isn’t much information, specimens have
Museums usually expect researchers examining objects to be
been collected and shoved in the collection with just a
closely supervised. Limitations on when museum staff are
number and ‘no info’.
available for such supervision is a frequent problem, particularly
where a specialist curator is required to take time away from Varied policies and procedures on handling,
other activities. Delays in finding an appropriate time slot when sampling and long-term loans
objects can be made available for supervised examination may Researchers are sometimes frustrated by what they see as
create difficulties for researchers in the scheduling of their inconsistencies between museums as to their policies and
research. procedures on the handling and sampling of objects and on loans
for research purposes, and by the lack of information about these
Lack of staff expertise and resources
policies and procedures. In many cases, decisions seem to be
Researchers appreciate the assistance they receive from curators.
based on an individual curator’s judgement, and procedures are
They also recognise that they cannot expect smaller museums
seen as excessively bureaucratic, especially in larger museums.
in particular to employ specialist curators in all relevant fields,
and that the expertise on offer may limit the usefulness of their Our evidence suggests that access to objects may be easier for
visit. Nevertheless, many feel that museums are not always as senior researchers with a well-established track record, or with
welcoming as they might be. good contacts. Some early-career researchers rely on senior
colleagues to validate their intentions to curators, and may suffer
Museums people are keen in principle, but so hard
from what some have described as ‘elitism’ or a lack of trust:
pressed in terms of staff, they’re not as welcoming as they
think they are. Some curators put considerable bureaucratic difficulties
in the way of bona fide investigators who wish to
Inadequate facilities and equipment
examine/borrow material from their collections for
Lack of space and facilities adequately to support researchers
scientific examination (it once took me six months to
is a problem in many museums. Visiting researchers may,
secure agreement to see certain mosaics).
for example, have to handle objects in staff offices and some
museums lack equipment such as scales or microscopes, whilst In my own research, I found museum staff just let you get
others cannot provide access to the internet or to museum on with it. PhD students now say there is more control
records. over access, more supervision, a ‘lack of trust’, more
Lack of opportunity to browse heavily managed perhaps because of health & safety
Lack of facilities to browse collections is seen as a problem by issues.
many researchers, for example,when collections are held in
external stores. Security requirements may preclude browsing in Our evidence suggests that access
some cases but in others, lack of resources for supervision seems to objects may be easier for senior
to be the major problem. researchers with a well-established
Off-site storage track record, or who have existing
Off-site storage is often problematic for researchers, either contacts in museums.
because of the delays involved when objects have to be retrieved
from remote stores, or because objects are remote from other
related objects, or from relevant data. Where stores are not well-
3.5. Online finding aids:
organised, some museums have been unable to locate an object, Researchers’ expectations
even after an appointment to view has been made.
Researchers are clear that making more information available
Access to associated documentation online would save time both for them and for museum curators.
Researchers are usually interested in the history and provenance Many initial queries put to curators could probably be answered
of objects, as well as any research papers relating to them. But through an online searchable database:
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Coverage
While comprehensive coverage in online finding aids would be
the ideal for researchers, they do not expect it to be achieved in
practice, at least in the short term. Moreover, they see finding aids
as one useful tool which may be complemented by other ways,
including making direct contact with museums.
You have to make sure museum visits will be useful. The So long as finding aids fall short of comprehensiveness, the key
more electronic and visual information you can get at to for researchers is a clear indication of what the service does and
start with, the better. does not cover, so that they can critically assess the results and
make their own judgements as to what other means of discovery
It’s useful and interesting to go to museums, but not need to be used in addition.
always productive. I went to…Museum but didn’t then use
it for my research. They didn’t know what was there and Level of detail
didn’t have an electronic catalogue - so they said come
and see what we’ve got. Researchers have mixed views on the level of detail required
in finding aids: that is, whether item level, collection-level or
Researchers expect basic information bulk-level cataloguing is appropriate. For some types of object,
such as contact details to be accurate collection-level information is of limited value:
and up to date, and to be sure Collection-level descriptions are not that useful. You
that general finding aids such as already have a good idea of where the collections are.
Cornucopia cover all museums with Researchers need more detailed information…it’s
collections relevant to their research. definitely object-level information which is of use.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
I’ve been in the field for over thirty years, so I’m not at the
point of having to find out about collections.
There’s something of the excitement of the treasure trove. more important than a detailed description.
For example, I was looking at material from [a particular I would query the amount of detail needed on each
country] and a tray was pulled out not exactly in the
artefact – could get round this by showing digital images.
right order, and I noticed material from some other place
that was very important. There are a lot of minerals which we suspect are
misidentified…We don’t know how to present them in the
Level of precision catalogue. This is where an image would be helpful.
Although accurate and up-to-date information about objects and From the curator’s viewpoint, digitisation can save wear and tear
collections is also much to be desired, most researchers believe on a fragile object. But most researchers point out that the value
that full and accurate information about objects and collections of images lies in the additional information they provide, rather
is unlikely to ever be available. The key requirement is that any than in serving as a substitute for seeing and handling an object:
assumptions and limitations in the description are made clear
in the finding aid. Perfection is unattainable not least because As good as images are (and they are good now), there’s
objects have multiple and changing meanings for researchers: nothing like the actual specimen. You have to prepare
material, eg it may be under an inch of rock and have to
Finding aids can never be perfect. Predefined categories be pared out. There is nothing like the actual object.
are just one way of describing things – you cannot
predict or anticipate all ways of describing an object. Researchers also find that digital images vary in quality, and there
may be specific reasons why they are not currently as useful as
A similar conclusion was noted by the JISC Funded LEMUR they might be:
project (Learning with Museum Resources). This found that
academics from five disciplines, including cultural history and It’s very difficult to get high enough quality images and
history of art, looked at the same object from different points to be certain of scale, especially when dealing with small
of view, indicating that the information they required from a things. Images are lit from one direction, and most
catalogue therefore differed too. organisms I work with are in low relief, so difficult to see.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
2D images such as paintings, prints or drawings lend themselves For archaeologists, the lack of links between site data and objects
more readily to digitisation than 3D objects. This, plus demand excavated is a particular problem:
from art historians, was the reason why the British Museum chose
There is a disjuncture between site-based information
to start its online collections database with prints and drawings.
and artefact-based information. If you find the artefact in
a museum you might not find the site-based information
Cross searching
or even any other bibliographic data. And the opposite is
The ability to cross-search museum databases is an important true – if you find the site information you may not easily
consideration for most researchers: objects themselves are find data about the actual artefact
more important than the museum in which they are held.
Archaeologists and palaeontologists comment frequently on how The problem is that objects are catalogued with no
objects from a single site may end up in a number of different particular reference to the context in which they were
museums. Other researchers similarly need to locate items which excavated. If the only number I have is an accession
may be held in smaller, less-well-known museums. number, it doesn’t tell me what grave it’s associated with,
what skeleton, etc. It’s important to see items as a group
Subject databases such as Accessing Virtual Egypt and NICE
and to be able to reference that in the catalogue.
Paintings (see section 4.1) provide aggregations of information
about objects held in different museums that can be particularly Many researchers say that links from online finding aids to
helpful for researchers seeking to trace objects in unexpected associated documentation of this kind would add greatly to the
or little-known museums. Archaeologists working with human value of finding aids.
remains feel particularly strongly about the need for a human
remains database, covering an area where regulations may make International scope
for difficulties in locating and working with objects relevant to
Researchers may frequently study objects held in museums
their research.
across the world and thus face additional challenges in locating
The growth of inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary research information on a worldwide basis. Links between finding aids for
presents particular challenges. It means that researchers from UK resources and for objects from around the world would be
different areas are looking at and for objects in many different particularly useful:
ways: a social historian, for example, may be interested in how
There is no central database which has all pterodactyls
an archaeological collection was put together; or an art historian
from all over the world – that would be great.
may be interested in early drawings of fossils. Online finding aids
which support cross-disciplinary searching are difficult to create, For researchers in earth sciences the challenge is to be able
but they can enhance the potential to make many links between to analyse information about objects and related datasets
objects outside the traditional subject focus. For researchers worldwide. This can be important when looking at issues such
in subject areas that do not have a tradition of object-based as climate change and weather patterns associated with specific
research, it is particularly important that high-quality finding aids objects on a global scale. For such researchers, finding aids with a
are available to assist them. worldwide coverage as well as a focus on related data sets would
be of great value.
Links to contextual and other information
Speedy access to online information
Researchers frequently want more than the basic description
and provenance of an object. Information about the history of an Regardless of the particular features that researchers ideally
object, about its relationships to other objects and about research want in a finding aid, their main priority is to be able to find basic
undertaken relating to it, including resulting publications, is of online information about objects as quickly as possible. Even at
considerable interest to researchers. Often such information is the risk of sacrificing quality and detail, a central message from
not easily accessible. Where relevant journal articles have been this study is that researchers want online access to whatever
collected, they may be held by a curator and only in hard copy in information is currently available. Museums should not wait until
an associated file. Frequently such publications have not been they have updated or enhanced their records before putting them
collected and held in the museum at all. online:
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
We want museums to get as much information out there simple search procedure, and will have enhanced expectations
as possible, online in whatever format – it doesn’t matter about interacting with online sources. Those who are used to
about tidying it up or just putting in the bare minimum. inputting their own content into Wikipedia, or to using social
network sites, will expect to be able to interact with museum
Researchers want online access to catalogues, adding their own descriptions and amendments to an
whatever information is currently existing record. And in so doing they will enhance the quality of
available. the catalogues, to the benefit of museums and all their users.
Conclusions
The idea of a research library without an online catalogue, and
without a facility to cross-search other library catalogues, is
now unthinkable. By contrast, online catalogues and finding
aids for objects and artefacts are much less well-developed, and Curator and staff at work: (left to right) Kent Tomey (Clun Museum
Curator), Jane Thompson Webb (BMAG: Collection Care Offficer),
researchers are only dimly aware of those that are being created, Anthea Henton (Shropshire Flying Collections Assistant)
and use them relatively little. Most researchers continue to gather © Shropshire County Council and Renaissance West Midlands
information about the nature and whereabouts of objects through
other means. When prompted, they can see some value in such
tools such as Cornucopia, but they want much more, at the very 3.6. Challenges in meeting researchers’
least of the quality that is being provided by libraries. Ideally, needs: Curatorial expertise
they want to go beyond collection-level descriptions where
appropriate, to include contextual information about objects, and It is clear from our study that researchers’ needs are being met
to see an image. Above all, they want the information currently at best partially and often not at all. This partly results from
available in museum catalogues – whatever its quality – to be put researchers’ lack of awareness of many of the services that are
online as quickly as possible, plus the facilities to enable them available or being developed, and one of the challenges for
to search across individual museum databases on a national and the museum community is to publicise these services more
preferably, international, level. effectively. Researchers’ subject networks and forums, such as
Paleonet in the case of palaeontology, would be suitable vehicles
Researchers who have been used for this information. Those museum catalogues that are available
to inputting their own content online are of variable quality and the scope of their coverage
into Wikipedia, or to using social unclear. Moreover, they seldom provide links to other data
network sites, will expect to be able sources, or enhanced levels of information such as images. One of
to interact with museum catalogues, the biggest challenges relates to curatorial expertise.
adding their own descriptions and Researchers currently rely heavily on specialist curators to
amendments to an existing record. assist them in identifying and locating objects relevant to their
research, and some researchers spoke to us of the value of a
Expectations will continue to grow. Future generations of curator with many years experience of a collection. The long
researchers will expect to find all information online through a term sustainability of this level of knowledge amongst curators
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
is a matter for concern. There is a widespread belief that many Where curators do not have relevant specialist knowledge, it is
museums, including some of the larger ones, are not employing even more important that there is a good online catalogue to
as many specialist staff as they did in the past; and that curators lead researchers to objects relevant to their research. Otherwise,
are taking on ever-greater management and front-of-house there is a danger that important collections, particularly those in
responsibilities, as distinct from focusing on research and the smaller museums, will remain hidden and unused. Alongside the
support of researchers. When curators with specialist expertise available levels of expertise, however, many researchers see the
are not available, this can cause problems for researchers: cultures prevalent in some museums as a barrier to meeting their
needs:
The material wasn’t catalogued and at first the museum
said they hadn’t got it. A researcher had worked on it Museums commonly see themselves as guardians of all
in the ‘80s and had now left. Luckily one of the curators materials and information about them, and feel that
remembered it and thought it must be somewhere. It information cannot be released until it is perfect and true.
was eventually located in a store. If that individual had
retired or left, no-one would have known. Changing such cultures and attitudes as an essential step towards
meeting researchers’ needs.
Both researchers and museum staff agree that it can take many
years before a new curator acquires detailed knowledge about a
collection: 3.7. Researchers’ contributions
I notice there is a generational gap now between new
to finding aids
staff and retiring staff who are taking a lot of knowledge
Some researchers are collaborating with museums to enhance
with them. The younger generation are much more about
object records. They often provide copies of articles or other
education and activities and display, while the older
publications, or newly-constructed datasets, resulting from their
generation are more on curation.
research. Most – but by no means all – researchers told us that
Such issues are even more challenging in smaller museums with they send copies of such outputs to museums with which they
few members of staff who cannot be expected to have specialist have had significant contact. Indeed, some museums impose
knowledge of all areas of their collections. Where catalogue on researchers a formal requirement to submit copies of any
records are also incomplete, this can cause problems: published work, particularly those including photographs or other
images, where the retention of the museum’s copyright may be an
If you know it’s there, you often have to ask in different ways.
important issue.
The curator has to know how to interpret your questions.
This may be difficult if they are inexperienced in your field. Although information deriving from and about publications
would make a valuable addition to any catalogue record,
This is a particular problem for researchers in areas such as
researchers are for the most part unclear how museums make
archaeology or palaeontology where collections have been split
use of it. The main exception here is in earth sciences, where the
among a number of museums, or where material from local
system of presenting publications to museums is formalised:
excavations is retained in a small local museum:
specimens described have to be curated and given a museum
The bigger collections have a bit more idea, but in smaller accession number before articles can be published in peer-
museums without specialist curators they wouldn’t reviewed journals.
necessarily know what’s what.
Many researchers contribute to museum finding aids in more
informal ways. They may develop relationships with particular
Where curators do not have relevant museums, where staff may call on them to provide expert advice
specialist knowledge, there is even on specific objects or collections. On a less-regular basis, many
more reliance on good online researchers provide information in conversations with museum
catalogues to lead researchers to the staff about, for instance, dating or examples of related objects in
objects relevant to their research. other collections:
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
24
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Finding out about objects: Discovery in expectations, and that the demand for online finding aids
Researchers use a variety of methods to discover information for objects will increase significantly and quickly, particularly
about objects relevant to their research. These include: contacting amongst newer researchers.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
26
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
4. Museums’ perspectives
27
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
On the research side there is the crisis of confidence that of museums had in-house electronic collections management
you might provide detailed search tools that are used systems and 63% had some collections information on their
by only four researchers. The other extreme is low-level websites, hardly any had made their databases available online.
search aids for the general public, but of limited value to The What’s in store project (Henderson & Parkes, 2004)
researchers. Broadening out the tools can dilute the value similarly found that few Welsh museums provided online access
for researchers. to collections and, though many were moving from paper to
It is important to remember, however, that the two groups of computer-based systems, very few had all their records on
users are not mutually exclusive and that any museum visitor may computer yet.
want to pursue an interest in more depth. In some cases a public- Looking at the situation in a specific subject area, a study of
facing catalogue can meet the needs of a range of audiences. The
ancient Egyptian and Sudanese collections in the UK (Serpico,
Imperial War Museum’s Collections Online, for example, makes
2006) found that 84% of respondents were using a computer
clear that it is ‘a valuable resource for all - commercial users,
database, and that 13% (mainly from the larger museums) had
academics, researchers and people interested in learning more
catalogues online.
about their family history’. Other catalogues, such as that planned
for the Wellcome Library (see section 4.3) similarly offer different
levels of approach for different levels of interest. The number of museums with
Some museums have taken a different approach, developing
in-house databases is growing,
research databases entirely separate from their webpages for the but the number with databases
general public. The British Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum, available online remains small.
for example, have separated out the ‘public-facing’ catalogue
on their websites from the more detailed ‘researcher’ catalogue Our study reinforces this picture: the number of museums with
located deeper within the site. Their public-facing catalogues are
in-house databases is growing, but few are made available online.
written in an accessible language designed to raise awareness
As might be expected, the large national and university museums
and encourage greater use of the museum. The descriptions in
are taking the lead, and two of the three examples described here
the research catalogues are more specialised, drawing on the
illustrate how they have sought specifically to meet the needs of
considerable expertise and knowledge of the museum curators.
the research community.
These websites are not generally directly linked to the museum’s
in-house collection management system. In most cases, however,
the technology is already there to make in-house databases CASE STUDY
available online, and it is difficult to see why museums should The British Museum
not adopt this as the logical next step. If a scholarly object-level
The British Museum has recently
catalogue can be made available in a user-friendly way, with
launched the first part of its
accessible and well written content, clear navigation and good
online collections database for
presentation, it could meet the needs both of researchers and of
researchers. The first phase
wider audiences.
includes over 260,000 items
Museum catalogues online from the prints and drawings
collections. The aim is to cover
Finding aids in the museums we studied vary hugely from paper all parts of the collection, to
or card catalogue records to full online multimedia databases. catalogue previously
Relatively few outside the major museums have fully-searchable un-catalogued stock, and to add
online databases, though most have made progress in moving images to one-third of the entries.
from paper or card to in-house databases.
The aim is that that in three to four years time, all registered
A recent survey of information and communications technology objects will be on the database, along with a good indication of
in Scottish museums (Bhandari, 2007) found that while 90%
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
29
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
a solution to the current wider lack of online databases and new MICHAEL Plus project, with funding from the European
Commission’s eTen programme. MICHAEL contains descriptions
discovery services, or give researchers the ability to cross-search
of digital collections searchable by subject or place, with a link
with confidence that they will discover more than a restricted
to the collection’s own website. There is a facility to browse by
sample of the objects that may be relevant to their research.
‘audience’, including ‘academic researcher’ though this currently
returns no entries for the UK.
National and UK-wide finding aids
The UK version, MICHAEL-UK follows a similar format to
There have been various initiatives in recent years to develop Cornucopia and can be browsed by a wide range of general
finding aids at national and UK levels that may have potential subject headings or by keyword search. While there is some
value for researchers. overlap with Cornucopia, the concentration on digital collections
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
The 24 Hour Museum has proved the most popular of the three While creating it there was no time to think about
MLA-supported finding aids, with over 850,000 visits a month. It what it is and what it may require. It might need more
is considered to have the best interface for contributors, making interpretation.
the addition of news items or changes to contact details easy.
As shown in section 3.3 above, researchers make little use of With the exception of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which
this type of collection-level description service, other than for is well established and known among archaeology researchers,
basic contact information. Such services do not provide the sort other databases discussed here are either at an early stage of
of detailed information that researchers seek prior to a visit to development or, as with FENSCORE, currently undergoing
a museum, although they may constitute a basis on which to significant change. It was therefore not possible within the
provide such information in the future. study to investigate how far such databases are being used by
researchers. Some are not well-publicised and are difficult to find.
People’s Network Discover
There is potential to market them to a wider research community,
Unlike the services described above, People’s Network Discover
not least by ensuring that they can be harvested through a service
provides item-level descriptions, linking directly to the
such as People’s Network Discover.
description provided in the museum’s own website, rather than
requiring a separate search as in Cornucopia. As well as picking It is also important to note that since most of these databases
up collection-level descriptions from Cornucopia and MICHAEL, were created through project funding, future development will
its detailed search facility currently covers item-level descriptions depend on their ability to identify other means to sustain them
from some 20 sources, including the Fitzwilliam Museum, when project funding comes to an end. The Domestic Interiors
Manchester City Galleries, and various project and heritage sites. Database, for example, was created for researchers involved in a
Its value is limited at present by the small number of museums specific research programme; any continuing role will depend on
represented. securing funding to make the database more visible and usable.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
32
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Backlogs
The MLA Accreditation Standard requires all museums with
accredited status to have a written documentation plan, including
details of how they will deal with any cataloguing backlog. A
survey of Scottish Museums (Bhandari, 2007) reported that 81%
of respondents had a programme to deal with backlogs, with
the majority aiming to complete this within four years. Many
of the museum staff we interviewed were unsure of the extent
of their backlogs, pointing to the large amount of material,
especially from archaeological excavations, simply stored in
boxes. Some echoed the Scottish estimate that it would take four
to five years to deal with their backlogs and get all their records
onto a database, though they stressed this would depend on
funding and/or the availability of volunteers. Others, faced with
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
The information itself may be wrong, the handwriting …because of the way the system was done – different
bad. If all this is copied wrongly it gets perpetuated. people and different times – the consistency of the data is
34
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
not what you would expect from an online resource and that it would take 20 years to re-enter every record, and so
latterly the information that went online was minimal. adopted a different approach with their Collections Navigator
project. This uses collection-level descriptions which start at a
This may lead to a more general scepticism about the value of
very high level and are then broken down through four levels into
putting catalogues online, as noted in a Museums Association
collections of between ten and a hundred objects. The Collections
inquiry (Collections for the future, 2005).
Navigator website will include the facility to contact curators,
Beyond the museum, the Internet offers remote access to book an appointment to view items, and to link to associated
to many collections and, crucially, to a wealth of documents. The Natural History Museum’s Collections Navigator
information about them. However, the inquiry shows uses a similar approach, providing a ‘half-way house’ between
that some museum staff are sceptical about the benefits basic collection-level descriptions provided by services such as
of investing in digitisation, believing that online access Cornucopia and more detailed item-level descriptions which,
to collections offers a relatively poor-quality experience however desirable, are much more time-consuming to produce.
for a relatively high cost. But this is to underestimate its For some kinds of material, indeed, such as collections of sherds
future potential. or flints, producing item-level descriptions is both unrealistic and
inappropriate:
Lack of supply and of demand reinforce each other unhelpfully
here: since there are few databases available, researchers do If you have a bottle of flies do you want to count each of them?
not use them very much; and curators feel able to wait until the
records are perfect before making them available online. If you started at ‘fossil 1’, you would just go mad and it
would be a pointless exercise.
Level of cataloguing detail
The approach of ‘bulk-cataloguing’ is well-understood and
Backlogs and the difficulties in transferring old records to online accepted by both curators and researchers as a means of making
databases give rise to questions as to the level of detail required such material discoverable and accessible.
in catalogue records, and in particular as to whether and in what For other kinds of material, however, such as paintings, item-
circumstances collection-level or item-level descriptions are most level description is essential. The problem for researchers is that
appropriate. The Collections for the future report (Museums even within a single museum the level of cataloguing may vary
Association, 2005) suggests that subject-based finding aids considerably, and seemingly haphazardly. It is not uncommon
should adopt the ‘more pragmatic approach’ of collection-level, for museums to have some parts of their collections catalogued
rather than item-level, descriptions. in great detail and others not at all. The level often seems to
The Scottish Museums Council (2006) has similarly looked at depend on the expertise of a particular curator, past or present,
the collection-level descriptors as the basis for a single portal for or on the work of an external researcher. It may also depend on
Scotland’s Distributed National Collections. They suggest that project funding, as with the planned Birmingham Museums and
this is actually a more useful approach, as well as saving time and Art Gallery’s Pre-Raphaelite resource site which has received
effort: funding from JISC for specialist input into the digitising of the
Pre-Raphaelite collection.
Museums are still discovering whether the scope of the
The level of detail to be included in catalogues, either in the short
collections information they offer online is in accordance
or the long term, is a key strategic issue for museums to consider,
with what users want, and further evaluation is required
and one on which they would often benefit from the advice of
of how easily users are able to locate and access it. For
researchers. Bulk cataloguing and collection-level descriptions
example, whilst detailed object-level records are essential
may be adequate in some cases, and grouping items into
for those working in museums, a simple overview at
categories may be a good short-term approach to dealing with
collection level might be more accessible, and more useful,
cataloguing backlogs and getting catalogues online more quickly.
to the general enquirer.
Museums also need to remember that once descriptions are
Glasgow Museums has adopted a pragmatic way of cataloguing available online, researchers will be able to add more information
a large collection within a realistic timeframe. They estimated themselves or, where necessary, to amend the records provided.
35
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Sensitive information Trust estimates the average time needed to produce an inventory
at 100-150 objects per day, and to convert manual records to
In-house databases, developed originally for audit purposes,
computer at 50-100 objects per day, though it stresses that
contain confidential or sensitive information including valuations
individual circumstances will affect those figures. Hence museum
and donor details, or security information such as location. Both
museum curators and researchers recognise that this presents staff are cautious:
MODES software, widely used for in-house databases, readily One curator described how a grant of £30,000 had been used to
allows them to suppress sensitive information in online versions employ two people to digitise a collection where paper records
of the database and others, who are aware lack the technical were poor. She estimated that about 20% of the collection, about
knowledge to do so. 2,000 artefacts, had been digitised as a result. But some museum
Sensitivities about the nature of some specific collections, such staff commented on both the lack of joined-up thinking and the
as those including human remains, may add to the reluctance lack of a national policy for the creation of online finding aids,
of some museums to make information about the collections and also on how project funding has led to a piecemeal approach:
available online.
There’s a proliferation of lots of different databases
Staffing and financial resources arising from projects.
The Collections Trust and SPECTRUM discovery of museum objects. Some museums use Categories
The Collections Trust provides guidance to museums to help for the Description of Works of Art (CWDA), a US standard
for paintings, while others use Cataloguing Cultural Objects
them achieve national standards, in two interlinked strands,
(CCO). The Collections Trust is currently aiming to build into
Collections Link and SPECTRUM. Collections Link is a national
SPECTRUM standards for resource discovery, such as the
advisory service for collections management, covering 16 subject
Dublin Core-based schema implemented in the People’s Network
areas. In archaeology, for example, it offers guidelines on ‘bulk
Discover service. In practice, if museums demand it, systems
accessioning’, while social history has a section on terminology
suppliers will be forced to offer these features.
control using the Social History and Industrial Classification.
The website also includes several case studies of how museums
have approached documentation backlogs.
Adding contextual and related information
to the record
SPECTRUM is recognised both nationally and internationally as
the standard for museum documentation. It is freely available for Although getting the in-house database online in its current
download from the SPECTRUM website, and it is incorporated form must be seen as a priority, adding to the record contextual
into most of the major museum content management systems information about objects and their history would be highly
such as MODES, KE Software, CALM, etc. desirable from the perspective of researchers. Reports such as
Revisiting Collections: Revealing Significance (MLA, 2005)
As discussed in section 4.2, many museums staff claim that
and Collections for the future (Museums Association, 2005)
sensitive information in databases mean that they cannot be
have highlighted the need to include as full a set as possible
made available online. All the ten systems that are SPECTRUM
of descriptive and contextual material about objects and
compliant, however, offer a web module to allow public access
collections as a key means of making them more accessible and
while suppressing certain fields. Most of the online databases
understandable to a wide variety of audiences:
featured in this report make use of this facility: the Fitzwilliam
Museum through Adlib, the Manchester Museums group through The potential of digitisation is not limited to collections
KE Emu, and the Buckinghamshire County Council Museum, themselves. In a digital environment, the ideas and
37
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
38
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
A semantic approach will provide a route for the addition of discovery tools. They are seeking to develop through an integrated
richer content, generated by museum staff and by researchers architecture project (IAP) a more joined-up approach to MLA
or others who will have access to a section of the website where funded services and to avoid duplication by providing a unified
comments and record amendments can be added. This will bring framework for the future which will:
museum online services in line with current developments in • provide access to high-quality content and up-to-date
social networking sites. information about, and from, UK museums, galleries,
archives, libraries and heritage sites, and
Harvesting of metadata
• reduce duplication in expenditure on web infrastructure,
Harvesting of metadata is key to enabling researchers and other giving the sector easy-to-use and sustainable publishing tools.
users to search across a number of museum databases, and there
This IAP service will bring together the data held in Cornucopia,
are a number of examples of services which facilitate or make use
MICHAEL, the People’s Network Discover service and the 24
of such harvesting:
Hour Museum and also provide a platform for the work of
• People’s Network Discover Service uses a variety of Subject Specialist Networks (see Section 4.4). It will also host
approaches including the Open Archives Initiative Protocol the developments planned for the Peoples Network Discover
39
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
service, which will make it of particular relevance to the research get more museums to contribute content, and for this, more
community. In particular, Culture 24 will show what can be museums must have their records available online.
achieved with a joined-up approach, and it is hoped that its ‘one
stop shop’ approach will encourage more museums to submit Linking to non-museum data sources
content. When the data included in Culture 24 reaches a critical
The opportunities and also the challenges in providing links
mass, it should prove an invaluable tool for researchers.
between distributed datasets have long been recognised. One of
People’s Network Discover: Increasing coverage the responses in the UK for the need of a coordinated approach
Peoples Network Discover is an open-source platform based to digital resources has been the establishment by JISC, the MLA
on open standards, which harvests content from content and other partners of the Strategic Content Alliance, which aims:
management systems, using OAI-PMH. It is not yet fully indexed
on Google, though as a service orientated system it could be, To build a common information environment where users
through a direct link to the OAI harvesting mechanism. As of publicly funded e-content can gain best value from the
already shown, the service allows direct searching of item-level investment that has been made by reducing the barriers
descriptions, allowing the user to go directly to the webpage that currently inhibit access, use and re-use of online
which describes the object. The service is limited at present by content.
giving access to only about 20 sites with object-level descriptions,
One of the key opportunities here is linking museums databases
but this will increase shortly, when more MLA-funded
with online library catalogues. A number of the researchers we
Renaissance in the Regions projects are due to be added.
spoke to cited union library catalogues such as COPAC or cross-
There is an open invitation for museums to put content into searchable catalogues such as InforM25 as examples of what
Peoples Network Discover and it is hoped that other funders could also be achieved by and for museums. The developments
will follow the MLA in requiring the outputs from any projects we have considered above should not only make it easier for
they fund to be made available through this service and that the museums to share data among themselves but also to share data
national museums will make their online databases searchable in with library systems.
this way. Projects such as the National Museums Online Learning
A short survey sent to the Society of College, National and
Project in which 10 national museums and galleries are piloting
University Libraries (SCONUL) library directors’ list (LIS-
the cross searching of online collections (although intended for
SCONUL) produced examples of plans to link museum databases
schoolchildren and lifelong learners) may also lead to results
either with library special collections websites or with library
which are of value to researchers. Cross searching is of particular
catalogues, one is from the Wellcome Library.
interest and value to researchers, and they will also value the
currency of information that is automatically updated as records Most libraries which responded to the survey are research
are added or changed in the museum’s own database. libraries which are also responsible for the museum collections
they are seeking to integrate into their catalogues. Knowledge
The prospects for the development of Peoples Network Discover
of the potential of library management and related systems to
through the Culture 24 integrated architecture project look
facilitate integrated platforms and of the needs of researchers
encouraging and will promote the service to a wider audience.
are clearly an important part of the impetus behind such
Plans for the service already demonstrate what is possible
developments:
technologically. With its ability to cross search across multiple
museum finding aids at item level, with either a general or a As an academic research library, we have to work
subject focus, the service is likely to be of interest to researchers backwards from research level rather than forwards
as well as the wider community. Its take-up among researchers from basic level as some other museums may have to do.
will depend on:
One library respondent highlighted the benefits of this combined
• how well it is promoted and approach:
• how comprehensive is its coverage of collections with
I think that there is a conceptual block on recording
records of sufficient detail.
information about non-book data in an OPAC, and we
The challenge for Peoples Network Discover therefore, is to need to move to different ways of thinking…for example
40
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
university libraries are interested in example in the Collections for the future report (Museums
Association, 2005) and more recently in the McMaster report,
including museum objects in their
Supporting excellence in the arts (2008):
catalogues, and also the potential of
library systems such as Innovative It makes sense for museums to pool their resources by
working across institutional boundaries, to begin to
and Talis.
address the shortfall of expertise and to find ways of
making better use of under-exploited collections. Groups
The survey thus showed that a number of university libraries
of museums working together would be well placed
are interested in including museum objects in their catalogues,
to draw in external expertise, from higher education,
and also the potential of library systems to accommodate this
industry and enthusiasts’ groups.
development. The Uncover developments at the Wellcome
Library illustrate how new services can incorporate Web 2.o Subject Specialist Networks were set up by the MLA as part of
and Semantic Web features. There is no reason why similar the Renaissance in the Regions initiative as a means for sharing
initiatives could not be developed within county library services expertise and knowledge across the whole museum sector.
and museums. The opportunity to be directed to different types Renaissance project funding is available on an annual basis
of resource from a single point of entry is attractive both in and in 2007-2008, 14 networks received funds for projects that
41
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
42
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Institute of Archaeology at University College London. The without it the prospects for further development would be much
AHRC also runs the Collaborative Doctoral scheme through worse for all museums, particularly those beyond the major
which research students have contributed to the development national institutions. It is not surprising that for some museums
of online finding aids. an online catalogue of any sort remains an impossible dream.
But it is important to stress that many smaller museums have
• JISC. JISC funds IT-related projects in the higher education
fully catalogued their collections, and that those catalogues –
sector. A number of university museums and collections have
particularly those created using MODES software – could be
benefited from involvement in projects which were part of
made available online at a modest cost: transferring the data
the Distributed National Electronic Resource or the more
held in-house content management systems to online databases
recent FAIR programme.
is not as complicated or costly as some museum staff suppose.
Although researchers are clearly one of the groups to benefit from Examples such as Buckinghamshire County Council (see section
the funding provided by these various bodies, with the exception 4.1) or Wiltshire Heritage Museums show what can be achieved
of the AHRC, relatively little of the work has been undertaken with relatively little funding.
with the needs of researchers specifically in mind. HLF and MLA-
funded projects in particular tend to focus on making collections
more readily-accessible by the whole community.
4.6. Key findings
Success in securing project funding depends on museums Online finding aids: The current situation
developing projects that meet the policy aims of funders. The online finding aids currently available range from those
Museums vary in their capacity to develop projects that meet provided by individual museums to those at regional and national
those aims and smaller museums in particular may lack the level, some of which focus on a specific subject. A few have been
time or expertise to develop such bids. Production of an online developed with the needs of researchers specifically in mind, but
catalogue in itself is not generally sufficient to attract external little evidence has been gathered yet as to how they are actually
funding. Many of those to whom we spoke believe that project being used.
funding tends to leads to a concentration of funding in a small
National, UK-wide and subject-based services are potentially
number of museums, particularly Renaissance Hubs, or those
of huge value to researchers. The UK-wide services currently
with Designated status:
available do not as yet provide the detailed information that
Being Designated opens up avenues of funding which are researchers need, although Peoples Network Discover (now being
not there if you are not. developed under the aegis of Culture 24) has great potential.
Some of the subject-based services currently being developed by
AHRC and JISC grants similarly go generally only to university
enthusiasts, often with project funding, also have considerable
museums, while Renaissance in the Regions funding is not
potential value for researchers. But with a few exceptions, such
generally available to non-Hub museums. Smaller museums
as the Portable Antiquities Scheme, it is not yet clear that they
are therefore at a disadvantage, both in having fewer funding
will be able to build a sustainable service of value beyond their
opportunities and also in having less time and expertise to put
currently small user base.
together a bid to the HLF or other funders. Smaller museums may
also lack the resources to ensure that initiatives funded through Moreover, the quality, coverage and value of any such services
project funding can be sustained once the funding comes to an end. depends critically upon the willingness and ability of individual
museums to make their records available online, and on the
The major projects undertaken by the large and national
quality of those records. While most museums have moved from
museums have thus created a perception that it is not possible for
paper or card to electronic collection management systems, few
smaller museums to get their collections online at a cost they can
have yet put their records online. It is encouraging that some
afford. Many of our interviewees pointed to the danger that this
museums are now starting to do so, although the full potential
may lead to a skewing of the coverage of UK-wide databases.
of providing access to the records will be realised when they
Despite all the difficulties, it is clear that project funding plays are available not just through individual museum websites, but
a critical role in the development of online databases, and that through broader national and subject-based services.
43
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Barriers to putting information online correct records. Very few interactive services exist as yet, but this
Cataloguing backlogs are a problem for most museums, and many is an obvious area for further development, once more museum
are reluctant to put their records online until the backlogs are databases are available online.
eliminated. They are also uncertain about when collection-level
Technological developments will also facilitate integration
as distinct from item-level descriptions are most appropriate, and
of museum catalogues with other resources, such as library
many are reluctant to put online records which are incomplete or
catalogues and institutional repositories. There are good
may be inaccurate.
examples of integration in the university and research library
Such considerations contribute to scepticism among some settings, but there is the potential to do much more.
museum staff as to the value of putting records online at all.
Cultural change and priorities
Such scepticism is important in a context where finding the
To realise the potential for beneficial change now being offered
staff and financial resources needed for cataloguing and related
by technological and related developments, there also needs to be
work involves a battle among competing priorities. However, it
a change in the culture prevalent in some museums, in order to
seems that many museums overestimate the resources needed
encourage more openness, more sharing and more collaboration.
to put their catalogue records online in their current state, and
The Subject Specialist Networks established under Renaissance
underestimate the value of those records to researchers. The
in the Regions may provide a useful means of encouraging such
absence of any clear and widely-expressed view from the research
change. There is potential, in particular, for developing closer
community as to what it wants, adds to this scepticism from
links between those networks and the parallel specialist networks
curators.
of researchers in relevant subjects and disciplines.
Technological challenges and opportunities
Funding
The SPECTRUM standard is widely used for museum in-house
All museums face difficulties in securing the resources to develop
databases, and most suppliers offer a facility to create an online
and enhance their catalogues and finding aids. Project funding
version of the database, suppressing sensitive information where from a range of bodies has played, and will continue to play, a
needed (though many museum staff are unaware of this). There critical role in the development of online databases, although the
is no technical barrier to putting more museum databases online; needs of researchers are seldom high among funders’ priorities.
if museum staff do not have the skills to do the work themselves, However, project funding brings the danger of a piecemeal
web-hosting services are available that can do it for them. approach, and also of a concentration on larger museums, at
The content of records could be improved by making use the expense of smaller and less-well-resourced institutions that
of recognised standards, and by linking to associated lack the capacity to develop project funding bids that meet the
documentation. Few museum databases are directly searchable aims of the major funders such as the HLF, MLA, JISC, and the
on Google or similar search engines, yet their content lends itself AHRC. This may lead to a skewing of the coverage of UK-wide
well to such services. Metadata harvesting offers the potential to databases such as Peoples Network Discover. It is important
develop value-added cross-searching services for researchers and to stress, however, that transferring the data held in in-house
other users. content management systems to online databases may not be as
complicated or costly as some museum staff think.
If museums can exploit the current developments in online
finding aids and discovery services, this should give researchers
greater access to museum catalogues, and the ability to cross
search. Both funding bodies and individual museums could do
more to ensure that records are made available through services
such as Peoples Network Discover. If this service is well promoted
and its content becomes reasonably comprehensive, then it is
likely to be more heavily used and valued by researchers.
Bronze Age Shield
from Tribley
Developments in Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web offer museums
© Society of Antiquaries
opportunities to interact more with their users, and to encourage of Newcastle upon Tyne
researchers and others to contribute directly to enhance or
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
45
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
the publication of confidential data are also unfounded, since of support provided for researchers vary considerably, with few
museum system suppliers can ensure that fields containing museums having clearly formalised policies in all areas. In order
sensitive data do not appear in online versions. to make their visits as productive as possible, researchers need to
know what to expect before they visit, and be aware of policies in
Whatever the inadequacies, real or perceived, of current catalogue
records, we believe that making the data in content management respect of handling, loans, sampling, etc.
systems available online is an essential first step to improving Museums will need help from MLA, the Museums Association
discovery services for the benefit of researchers and, indeed, other and other bodies in implementing this recommendation, and we
users. suggest that MLA and the Museums Association support museums
To fulfil this recommendation, and to ensure that records are and other collections in developing ‘researchers’ charters’, that set
readily available and findable on relevant websites, museums out the services and facilities they offer including:
and other collections may need help and guidance from MLA, • how to contact the museum and individual curators, and to
the Museums Association, and related organisations. We suggest make appointments with them
that:
• what equipment and facilities are provided, e.g. scientific
• MLA should consider asking museums for their plans to equipment, workspace
make databases available online as part of the Documentation
Plan required for accreditation • restrictions on use of objects including destructive analysis
and sampling
• Collections Trust should encourage all museums with
in-house content management systems to make the data • loan arrangements
available online, even if they are not yet complete. They • access to related documentation
should also demonstrate how this can be achieved technically,
• facilities to browse collections, and access to stored objects
with fields containing confidential information suppressed.
Museums should be provided with suitable advice and access • the information researchers are expected to provide, such as
to technical expertise where required the accession numbers of objects they wish to view, and
• Collections Trust should develop a standard template for • any handling restrictions relating, for example, to
museums to use to explain the coverage of their catalogues, fragile objects.
and the nature and level of detail in the records they contain,
and 3. The nature and quality of catalogue records
• Collections Trust and Collections Link should identify and All online catalogues and portals should make clear on
promote examples of good practice in the siting of databases
their website home page the nature and scope of the
within museum websites.
records on which they are based.
2. Clear and open policies on access Researchers want finding aids to be provided online as quickly
as possible. Ideally, they should provide accurate information;
Museums and other collections should develop and wide coverage; digital images; links to other relevant sources
publish on their websites a ‘researchers’ charter’ of information such as research papers and information about
including clear policies on the arrangements for visits objects’ provenance and their international scope and coverage.
by researchers, covering issues such as the support and Researchers also want to go beyond collection level to item-level
facilities available for browsing collections, handling descriptions, including the provision of images. No museum can
objects, sampling and testing, and loans. meet all these requirements in the records for all its collections,
For most researchers, the end point of a search for an object is and researchers recognise that the requirements set out above
engagement with the object itself. What they want from finding are not absolutes, but ideals to aspire to: the nature, quality and
aids is enough information to be able to plan their visits to view accuracy of catalogue records will vary both within and across
collections. The arrangements for access to objects and the level museums. The key for researchers is rather that any finding aid
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
should make clear the nature and the scope of the records on Researchers themselves are among the major contributors and
which it is based. creators of such contextual information. Most of them present a
copy of the reports and papers they produce to the museums they
4. Dealing with backlogs and enhancing existing have worked with, although they are often not clear as to how
records museums and others make use of such information.
In dealing with backlogs and enhancing existing records, To help museums and others implement this recommendation,
where possible, clear criteria for determining whether • Collections Trust should provide advice on how museums can
and in what circumstances collection-level or group, as most efficiently and effectively add images to their online
distinct from item-level, descriptions are appropriate. databases.
In making decisions on dealing with backlogs, museums and • Collections Link and appropriate Subject Specialist Networks
other collections should bear in mind that once records are should advise on how to include in catalogue records information
available online, researchers and other users can more readily about sources of relevant contextual information, and
enhance and update them. We suggest that:
• relevant learned societies and professional associations,
• Collections Trust and Collections Link should develop as well as research funders, should remind researchers of
guidance on ways of coping with backlogs, using bulk the obligation to submit to museums copies of reports and
cataloguing or grouping objects within specific subject areas publications that are based on objects researched within the
and should consult with the research community through the museum.
Specialist Subject Networks on the form of cataloguing that
6. Engaging with researchers
will best suit their needs.
Researchers should be encouraged to submit
5. Including images and contextual information amendments and enhancements to catalogue records,
and curators should establish systems for handling such
Online catalogues should wherever possible include
input from researchers, including the exploitation of
images, and also notes about and links to, sources of
Web 2.0 technologies.
relevant contextual information.
Researchers themselves are major sources of information
Researchers attach particular value to being able to see images and expertise about objects and collections. Whether they are
of objects. In some cases, images can be more valuable than a researching objects for the first time or revisiting old records and
detailed description in enabling researchers to make a decision reinterpreting, their findings can be used to update or amend
on whether or not to visit a collection. While 2D images are existing records. Some researchers already provide to curators
particularly helpful in art history, developments in 3D imaging information and suggested amendments to records, but there is
have great potential in many subject areas. potential to exploit their knowledge much more systematically.
Researchers are also often as interested in contextual information Direct interaction between researchers and curators should be
about objects – including their history and provenance, details facilitated by developments in Web 2.0 technologies and services
of previous research relating to them, publications and so on including blogs, wikis and social networking sites, as well as by
– as in the objects themselves. Ideally, they would like to see the Semantic Web. It is now relatively simple to establish systems
such information linked to the object record. In most museums, to allow researchers and other users to submit amendments
however, even if the information is available at all, it is likely to be and enhancements direct to online catalogues (if necessary
kept separate and available only through the curator. Wherever after moderation by a curator). A few museums are already
possible, hyperlinks should be established between catalogue experimenting with these technologies. This has the potential to
records and the sources of such contextual information. This help all museums and collections to improve the quality of their
would be of interest and value far beyond the academic research catalogues, as well as to improve the links between researchers
community. and curators.
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
To implement this recommendation, we suggest that: position, including the further development of Collections Trust/
Culture 24 Integrated Architecture Project (IAP). This will be
• relevant learned societies and professional associations
capable of providing direct access to object-level descriptions
should encourage researchers to provide amendments or
from individual museums, though its value for researchers and
enhancements to catalogue records, and
others will depend on the success of the policies of MLA and
• MLA, the Museums Association and other relevant bodies other funders in encouraging museums and other collections to
should provide guidance to museums and other collections on make their records available to the service. To implement this
the arrangements for handling such input from researchers. recommendation, we suggest that:
• the Museums Association and other relevant bodies should • MLA should work with other funding bodies (including AHRC,
develop guidance for museums on developing and HLF, and JISC) to ensure that online databases produced with
implementing Web 2.0 and semantic web approaches to their support are made available through the IAP
their catalogues; and
• MLA should discuss with national museums a mechanism for
• Subject Specialist Networks should establish a dialogue with including existing and planned online databases in the IAP,
relevant learned societies and professional associations on and
how researchers can most effectively make use of such
• MLA should work with Collections Trust and Subject
technologies to provide input into the development of
Specialist Networks to provide a mechanism for including all
museum finding aids.
other online databases of objects in the IAP.
A number of steps could be taken to improve the current • MLA and Collections Trust should work with the Subject
48
Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Specialist Networks to communicate information about 10. Linking library and museum catalogues
existing and new online services to researchers through their
learned societies, professional associations and other relevant MLA and other agencies should work with museums and
networks. libraries to explore the potential for linking databases of
objects and of textual information.
• MLA and Collections Trust should work through the People’s
Network Discover and Culture 24’s Integrated Architecture It is relatively rare for an object to be the sole focus of a
Project to provide guidance on making online records researcher’s interest. Researchers generally wish to gain access
directly searchable by general web search engines, and to a wide range of information sources, many of which will not be
harvestable under protocols such as OAI-PMH. directly related to the specific objects they are investigating. Links
and interoperability between sources of textual information and
9. Funding and collaboration museum catalogues are very desirable for researchers, but rarely
exist currently.
MLA should work with funders and other agencies to
encourage and support projects to develop and enhance A few librarians in the university and research sectors who also
high-quality online catalogues, particularly those that have responsibility for museum collections, like the Wellcome
involve collaboration between researchers and curators Library, have begun to explore the potential for such linking,
responsible for several collections. but much further work is needed to develop good practice
examples and encourage others to follow suit. To implement this
The needs of researchers are not a key priority for major funders recommendation, we suggest that:
such as the HLF and MLA. Nevertheless, projects funded by
these organisations have been, and will continue to be, of • Collections Trust should investigate with library and
critical importance in increasing the coverage and availability museum system suppliers the potential for the cross searching
of catalogue records for individual museums and for subject or of systems, and
regional groupings. It is important that funders are aware that • JISC and other funders should support projects to explore
creating and making available high-quality catalogue records, and promote the potential for links between the museum and
plays a central role in underpinning the support for research the library communities.
and education and also makes a valuable contribution to the
community at large.
Glossary
Accredited museum
Run by the MLA, this scheme provides a nationally agreed Culture 24
minimum benchmark against which museums may be assessed. Culture 24 is a not-for-profit online publisher that exists to
To qualify, museums must meet basic requirements on how they promote and support the cultural sector online and runs the 24
care for and document their collections, how they are governed Hour Museum website
and managed, and on the information and services they offer to
their users CyMAL
Museums Archives and Libraries Wales
ADS
Archaeology Data Service DCF
Designation Challenge Fund
AHDS
Arts and Humanities Data Service DCMS
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
AHRC
Arts and Humanities Research Council DCF
Designation Challenge Fund
AIM
Association of Independent Museums Designated museum
The Designation Scheme identifies the pre-eminent collections of
national and international importance held in England’s non-
ARTstor
national museums, libraries and archives, based on their quality
ARTstor is a digital library of nearly one million images in the
and significance, run by the MLA. The Scheme recognises that
areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences with
organisations with Designated collections care for a significant
a set of tools to view, present, and manage images for research
part of England’s cultural heritage. It was launched in 1997 for
and pedagogical purposes
museums only, and extended to libraries and archives in 2005.
The Scheme now covers over 100 collections held in museums,
CBA libraries and archives. It is worth noting that one of the conditions
Council for British Archaeology of designation is the accessibility of the collection. The equivalent
scheme in Scotland is the Significance Recognition Scheme
Collections Link
A national advisory service for collections management, FENSCORE
covering 16 subject areas Federation for Natural Sciences Collections Research
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
HLF MUA
Heritage Lottery Fund Modes Users Association
JISC
Joint Information Systems Committee PAS
Portable Antiquities Scheme
MA
Museums Association People’s Network Discover
The People’s Network Discover services began by providing
computers in public libraries, making high-speed web access
Metadata
available to everyone. The network in libraries offers over 60
Metadata is data about data – it describes how and when and by
million hours of computer use every year, most of it free, with
whom, the data was collected and how it is formatted
access to a wide range of software and digital content. The
Discover service is a cross-domain portal searching across a wide
MICHAEL range of institutional databases
Multilingual Inventory of Cultural Heritage in Europe
MODES RIN
Museum Object Data Entry System Research Information Network
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web aims to enable the structured sharing of data
on the web. It aims to store information in computer readable
formats, using specialised descriptive technologies, for easy
retrieval by software applications
SCONUL
Society of College, National and University Libraries
SMC
Scottish Museums Council (now known as Museums Galleries
Scotland)
SSN
Subject Specialist Networks
UMIS
University Museums in Scotland
VADS
Visual Arts Data Service
Web 2.0
A term describing changing trends in the use of World Wide
Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity,
information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web.
Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of
web-based communities, such as social networking sites, video
sharing sites, wikis and blogs
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Discovering physical objects: Meeting researchers’ needs
References
American Library Association (2006), Cataloguing cultural Council for Museums, Libraries and Archives (2004),
objects: A guide to describing cultural works and their images. Accreditation standard. www.mla.gov.uk/resources/assets//A/
http://vraweb.org/ccoweb/cco/index.html, accessed 21.12.07 accreditation_standard_pdf_5640.pdf, accessed 21.12.07
Arnold-Foster, K (1999), Beyond the ark: museums and The Culture, Media and Sport Committee (2007), Caring
collections of higher education institutions in Southern England. for our collections. www.parliament.the-stationery-office.com/
Winchester: South Eastern Museum Service. pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmcumeds/176/176ii.pdf,
Christie, B & Gunn, A (2007), Feasibility study for a MLA (2005), Revisiting collections: Revealing significance.
sustainable collections research network. University of St www.collectionslink.org.uk/Increase_access/revisiting_
Andrews. www-ah.st-andrews.ac.uk/mgci/docs/FinalReport5a- collections, accessed 15.09.08
1opt.pdf, accessed 24.01.08
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Museums and Galleries Commission (1999), Lifting the Travers, T. (2004), Valuing museums: Impact and innovation
veil: Research and scholarship in United Kingdom museums among national museums. London: National Museum Directors
and galleries. London. Conference. www.nationalmuseums.org.uk/images/publications/
valuing_museums.pdf, accessed 13.02.08
Museums Association (2008), Ethical principles for
all who work for or govern museums in the UK. London. Turner, C (2004), Cornucopia: An open collection description
www.museumsassociation.org/asset_arena/text/07/ service. In Ariadne, 40, www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue40/turner/,
codeofethics_2007.pdf, accessed 13.02.08 accessed 24.01.08
Museums Association (2005), Collections for the future. Willpower Information (2005), Time taken to create
www.museumsassociation.org/asset_arena/text/ns/policy_ catalogue records for museum objects and archives.
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54
Further copies of this report area available to download
at www.rin.ac.uk/objects or further hard copies can
be ordered by emailing contact@rin.ac.uk
Artwork by designisgoodland.com 55
About the Research Information Network
Who we are
The Research Information Network has been established by the
higher education funding councils, the research councils, and
the national libraries in the UK. We investigate how efficient and
effective the information services provided for the UK research
community are, how they are changing, and how they might be
improved for the future. We help to ensure that researchers in
the UK benefit from world-leading information services, so that
they can sustain their position as among the most successful and
productive researchers in the world.
What we work on
We provide policy, guidance and support, focusing on the
current environment in information research and looking at
future trends. Our work focuses on five key themes: search
and discovery, access and use of information services,
scholarly communications, digital content and
e-research, collaborative collection management
and storage.
How we communicate
As an independent voice, we can create debates that lead to real
change. We use our reports and other publications, events and
workshops, blogs, networks and the media to communicate
our ideas. All our publications are available on our website at
www.rin.ac.uk