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Re: inventory of artwork



Laurie:

The following suggestions are based on my experience in
inventorying art in semi-public and office spaces in multiple
buildings. I am a librarian with a background as an archivist,
not an art curator.

(1) Ask artists or art students for help in identifying media and
various types of reproductions. If you are lucky, you will find
an archives or library assistant with a background in art and
perhaps photography to do the legwork. You will have plenty to do
in reviewing the inventory records and checking them against
what's out there in the real world and any other surveys which
may turn up.

(2) Use a standard list of locations for buildings and rooms. If
your campus has official room numbers used for building
operations and security, etc., use those designations for your
inventory as well.

(4) Use software which facilitates searches on any word or
combinations of words. I've been pleased with ProCite and with
Inmagic db/Textworks, which I use for many other library and
archival functions. ProCite comes with a form for artwork, which
can be modified. Developing a form in db/Textworks is easy.
Endnote, Reference Manager, Filemaker, and Asksam are other
programs which would also be suitable.

(5) For identification purposes, photograph the art with a digtal
camera.  Link the jpg images to corresponding database records.
Since these images are for identification, not reproduction, the
camera need not be top of the line in terms of resolution.  I use
a Sony Digital Mavica FD92, which uses floppy disks or memory
sticks. One floppy will hold twenty or more 640 x 480 images.

(6) Barcodes placed in hidden locations on frames can be helpful
for updating surveys, assuming one can carry a copy of the
database on a laptop computer. One must of course look at the
picture and the inventory record, not simply at barcodes.

Information about artwork will come from the usual institutional
sources: press releases, articles in house newsletters, archival
correspondence, board minutes, etc. An earlier inventory will
turn up six months after you've finished work on your first
inventory. It is also possible that an administrator is holding
on to an earlier inventory to compare against your results.


Steve Johnson
sjohnson@westnet.com
http://www.westnet.com/~sjohnson

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