Acquisitions in Adlib: From Paper-Based to Database

Jo ThomsonCollections Information Officer

National Museums Scotland

Horse and groom, tomb of Li Wenzhong, Ming royal and official tombs at the new capital city

Nanjing, Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 AD), Zhongshan, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China,

1981, from the Ann Paludan Photographic Archive of Chinese Sculpture

©Estate of Ann Paludan

Objectives

• Paper-based procedure wasn’t particularly well adhered to – make non-compliance visible

• Keep track of budget allocations• Keep a central record of failed acquisitions• Make process data auditable / usable

Why a new dataset? – Workflows were out of reach

'Hot Flow', panel of dyed sycamore veneer, predominantly red in colour and partially cut and abraded: England, Leicestershire, by Peter Chatwin and Pamela Martin, 2000

Acquired with the aid of the Barfil Trust

©Peter Chatwin and Pamela Martin

How it happened

• Scoping meeting• Identified units of information to be recorded• Field structure designed• Dave Forster got to work• Regular Skype meetings• Testing of various iterations• Problem solving!• Implementation

White earthenware tile stencilled and painted in enamel colours with a cat: English, Newton Abbot, by Candy and Co. Ltd, decorated at Hastings by

Kenneth Townsend, 1966

© Candy and Co. Ltd / Estate of Kenneth Townsend

Challenges

• Conditions• Costs – estimates, final costs, currency conversions• Using the same fields for acquisition source, etc. to pull

data into Collect• Generating paperwork with embedded templates

Gorgonacea and Parantipathes hirondelle, SAMS Deep-sea benthos collection, R. V. Challenger Cruise 20/87, 29th October 1987

NeXT computer, by NeXT Inc., USA, 1989

What next?

• Refinements for compliancy – completeness of records was poor!

• Improvements worked for first part of process – further refinements required post-authorisation. We still have more to do!

The Cramond Lioness, sandstone sculpture of a Roman lioness devouring human prey, from Cramond, Edinburgh, Midlothian

What would we do differently?

Want to know more?

Jo Thomson j.thomson@nms.ac.ukAngus Kneale a.Kneale@nms.ac.uk