Collection management procedures in Moliri

Moliri comes with a template for every collection management procedure. A template names the information the procedure needs and sorts it into mandatory, recommended and optional. It creates missing fields, the link types and an input form. The selection and the information follow the common standards of museum documentation. How an institution runs through the procedure is up to the institution.

The templates are under Data model › Metadata standards in the section Processes, each as a card of its own below the export standards. They are built on the same concepts as LIDO and the Minimaldatensatz (minimum data set, MDS): a field that is mapped for the export also counts for the template.

The path of an object

Every template starts with the identification group (inventory number, object title, usually object type). The tables below list only what comes on top of that.

Using a template

Open the template, Install. The preview lists what will be created: missing link types and a layout template from the mapped fields, which appears in new projects. Concepts without a field are listed below, with Create missing fields. Existing fields stay as they are. If a layout with the template’s name already exists, no new one is added. Moliri creates everything in one go or nothing at all. Log shows who installed which template and when.

The levels apply to the template, not to saving. If a mandatory piece of information should stand out in the input form, the field gets the condition not empty, as for the Minimaldatensatz . If a mandatory concept lacks it, Set condition in the notice in the concept details sets it. The record is saved anyway.

Instructions: Bind fields to standards .

Object entry

Documents the arrival of an object: identify it unambiguously and record its arrival before a decision on its future has been made, for example for a gift offered for inspection or a find.

Links: Owner and Contact from the address book, plus the file role Main image. You create objects that do not yet belong to the collection in a project of their own, for example “Entry”; a creation rule makes sure they do not appear in the collection (Create a project ).

Acquisition

Transfer of ownership and accession: record the method of acquisition, the source and the rights.

The acquisition itself is an event of the type acquisition, with date, participants and all objects that came with it (link Acquired). A lot is formed by the links Member of lot on the object and Part of lot on the event. The link Owner from the address book connects the previous owner.

Cataloguing

The full scholarly documentation. All export standards draw on it; if you have mapped fields for the Minimaldatensatz , you already have most of the fields.

Terms come as authority data with an identifier: object name, classification, material, technique, subject, depicted persons and places, style / period, mark / signature, provenance mark. References to other records use Part of, Related to, Documented in, Depicted in and Reproduced in; literature is kept as a library of its own, created with the template Literature. For images there are the file roles Main image, View, Detail, Back and Catalogue image, as keywords on the file (File roles ).

Location and movement

Where an object is right now, where it belongs, and which moves it has been through.

Locations are terms in the authority data library : building, room, shelf, compartment, each as a term of its own. They are linked as Current location and Permanent location. A move is an event of the type location, to which all objects that were moved together are linked. The history shows who changed the location and when.

Inventory

Knowing what you have and where it is: the collection is checked against the documentation.

You can record an inventory as an event, with the checked objects attached to it through the link Checked. A filter on this link shows which objects are still missing. For work in the store, a view with inventory number, location and image works well, as a table or in the gallery.

Loan in and loan out

Loan in: an object belonging to another owner comes into the institution for a limited purpose. Loan out: an object of your own goes to another institution for a limited time. Both templates are built the same way.

In Moliri a loan has three sides:

Loan agreement, loan list and condition report are produced with Word templates from the data of the selected objects. Documents about the loan are attached to the object and carry the file role Document as a keyword. For exchange with other institutions there is the export in the EODEM profile.

Information such as insurance, courier or agreement number is kept in fields on the object, not on the event.

Condition check

Record the condition and technical assessment: on entry and exit, before and after a loan, or at regular intervals.

Images get the file roles Condition photo, X-ray / UV / IR or Conservation documentation as keywords; Compare Images shows before and after side by side. Examination and treatment are events of the type conservation, with the object attached as Examined or Treated. For conservation work, an input form of its own that shows only this information is a good idea.

Object exit

An object leaves the collection the institution is responsible for: return of a loan, disposal, final exit.

When a loan in is returned, the event is usually the loan itself, whose period ends.

Deaccession

An object is permanently removed from the collection following a set procedure. The template records what belongs to the justification.

The record is kept. A deaccessioned object moves to a project of its own or gets a status that the views of the collection filter by. Every change remains in the history.

Supporting procedures in the institution

An institution maps how it runs through its procedures with the tools Moliri already has:

You can change a template freely after installing it. The template’s levels stay as they are and serve as a comparison.