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Re: taking inventory of artwork
Laurie,
I would agree with Steve Johnson's suggestions.
We too had an inventory of our art work done--in 1993. No provision
was made for updating the locations of the material so we now know what
we have (and where it was in 1993) but we can't be sure whether the works
are still in the same location. Barcoding is the solution that
we'll use the next time around and--as a library--we have the option of
running the items through the circulation system. The plan is to
"check out" the art to individuals in the various Museum
departments. It is Museum policy that when a person leaves the
institution's employ that all library items be returned. This goes
along with handing in keys etc. before one receives their last
paycheck. In this way, we hope to avoid the swapping,
trading--"oh I'll take that painting for my office if you don't want
it" scenarios of the past. We'll supplement this with a
yearly memo to each Museum Department and an annual Museum wide e-mail
reminding staff that they are personally responsible for these items just
as they are for library books. Once established it would also be
relatively easy to run a check through the circulation system to confirm
that the items are still in place. Presumably a similar system
could be created with a conventional database in an institution without a
library circulation system.
Good luck with it.
Barbara
Barbara Mathé
Museum Archivist and Head of Library Special Collections
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79 Street
New York, New York 10024
(212) 769-5419
mathe@amnh.org