Documenting Your Collections
Info-Muse Network Documentation Guide

Les guides électroniques de la SMQ

Permanent Location Site (1 to 6) (Storage Location)

Mandatory fieldField to be used with an authority listField used for ethnology and history collectionsField used for fine and decorative arts collectionsField used for science and technology collectionsField used for archaeology collections (object data and site data)Field used for natural science collections

Definition:

  • These fields contain information on the permanent location site of the specimen or its designated storage site.

Observations:

  1. Inventory and location of specimens are essential for proper collection management. These fields are vitally important, since they make it possible to locate specimens in the institution.
  2. Each specimen should have a permanent location site. The Info-Muse Network suggests six fields that can be used to record this information, i.e. Permanent Location Site 1 to Permanent Location Site 6. You may not need all six fields; leave any unused fields blank.
  3. Begin by drawing up a plan of the storage areas in your institution and assign a code to each location. This will give you a structured hierarchical list you can refer to when assigning a location to each specimen. Assign the biggest unit to the Permanent Location Site 1 field and continue until you reach the smallest storage unit, depending on the number of location fields required.

    Example
    Institution 1
    Coding

    Location data
    Specimen A
    Location data
    Specimen B
    Permanent Location Site 1
    Building
    Permanent Location Site 1
    Seminary
    Permanent Location Site 1
    Museum
    Permanent Location Site 2
    Room/Storeroom
    Permanent Location Site 2
    storeroom 423
    Permanent Location Site 2
    Orientation room
    Permanent Location Site 3
    Unit/Display case
    Permanent Location Site 3
    unit 4
    Permanent Location Site 3
    display case 13
    Permanent Location Site 4
    Shelf
    Permanent Location Site 4
    shelf C
    Permanent Location Site 4

    Permanent Location Site 5
    Box
    Permanent Location Site 5
    box C.2
    Permanent Location Site 5

    Permanent Location Site 6
    Tray
    Permanent Location Site 6
    tray C.2.1
    Permanent Location Site 6


    Example
    Institution 2
    Coding

    Location data
    Specimen A
    Location data
    Specimen B
    Permanent Location Site 1
    Room/Storeroom
    Permanent Location Site 1
    Henri-Granger Room
    Permanent Location Site 1
    basement storeroom
    Permanent Location Site 2
    Unit
    Permanent Location Site 2

    Permanent Location Site 2
    unit 2
    Permanent Location Site 3
    Shelf/Drawer
    Permanent Location Site 3

    Permanent Location Site 3
    shelf D
  4. These fields are used in conjunction with the Permanent Location Date field.

Entry rules:

  1. Enter the location, proceeding from the most general to the most specific.
    Example 1
    Record for a specimen in room 205, on unit D, shelf 12, box 4, tray 2
    Coding
    Location data
    Permanent Location Site 1
    Room
    Permanent Location Site 1
    room 205
    Permanent Location Site 2
    Unit
    Permanent Location Site 2
    unit D
    Permanent Location Site 3
    Shelf
    Permanent Location Site 3
    shelf 12
    Permanent Location Site 4
    Box
    Permanent Location Site 4
    box 4
    Permanent Location Site 5
    Tray
    Permanent Location Site 5
    tray 2
    Example 2
    Record for a specimen in display case 1 of the exhibition room called "Lobby"
    Coding
    Location data
    Permanent Location Site 1
    Room/Storeroom
    Permanent Location Site 1
    Lobby
    Permanent Location Site 2
    Display case/Unit
    Permanent Location Site 2
    display case 1
    Permanent Location Site 3
    Shelf
    Permanent Location Site 3

  2. If you know that you have a specimen in your collections but cannot find it, write "unknown" in the Permanent Location Site 1 field. Do not enter anything in the other location fields. Enter the date of this observation in the Permanent Location Date field.
  3. If you move a specimen, remember to enter the new location in the Permanent Location Site fields and the new date in the Permanent Location Date field. It is important to keep an audit trail of locations. Archive information on previous locations.
  4. These fields may contain several entries separated by a semicolon followed by a space.

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