Presentation for the Modes Users Association Annual Meeting 25.9.2013. Overview of recording of Revisiting Museum Collections units of information within the Modes system.

1. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
Richard Langley
Modes Annual Meeting
25.9.2013

2. Revisiting Museum Collections
“Revisiting Collections
provides a framework for
embedding new understanding
and perspectives on objects
directly within the museum’s
collection management
system, ensuring that it forms
part of the story about the
collections that is recorded
and made accessible to all.”

3. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
RMC units of information
1. Description and history
2. Associations and references
3. Use of the object
4. Owner’s contributions
5. Viewers’ contributions
6. Record & attribution information

4. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
• RMC units of information are mapped to
SPECTRUM, and all SPECTRUM units of
information can represented by Modes
elements.
• RMC units of information are not mandatory.
• Choose the units which are appropriate to the
current project.

5. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
• RMC units of information can be added to
records in the main catalogue
OR
• RMC data can be recorded in a separate file,
linked to the main catalogue.

6. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
1. Description and history
A record of the origins and use of the object,
perhaps deduced from examination of the
object. Modes records are usually rich in this
type of information.
Use the Association, Description,
FieldCollection and ConditionCheck groups.
Use Origin to record the name of the place
of origin of the Material (RMC Material
source).

7. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
2. Associations and references
A record of the people, places, activities and
other objects connected with the object. Modes
records are usually rich in this type of
information.
Use the Association and References groups.
Use ObjectIdentity within Related Object to
record the record number related to the object
being documented (RMC Related object number).
If the related record is in a different file, use
Filename to record the name of the file.

8. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
3. Use of the object
A record of the selection and use of the
object for exhibition, research, or other
activities within the museum.
Use either the ObjectUse or the Exhibition
group, depending on the nature of the
event.
Use the Commentary group to record
exhibition labels or other display text
(RMC Label text).

9. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
4. Owner’s contributions
Knowledge about the object contributed by a
former owner of this, or a similar, object.
Use the Evidence group to record an owner’s
contributions including
RMC Owner’s personal experience and
RMC Owner’s personal response.
The owner and ownership dates can be
recorded in the same Evidence group, or
separately in an Ownership group.

10. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
5. Viewers’ contributions
Responses to the object contributed by a
visitors, researchers or others interacting
with the object within the museum.
Use the Evidence group to record the
viewer’s contributions including
RMC Viewer’s personal experience and
RMC Viewer’s personal response. If there is
more than one viewer, repeat the
Evidence group to represent each person’s
individual contributions. Collective or group
contributions can be recorded as a single
Evidence group.

11. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
Information about the status of the
information being recorded.
Use the RecordType group to describe the
level of the record (collection, group, or item
level record?).
Use the RecordProgress group to record
stages in the amendment of the record.
Authority may also be used within any other
group to record its amendment.
Use Recorder for the main authorship of
the record.
6. Record & attribution information

12. Revisiting Museum Collections
with Modes Complete
Find out more:
1. Get the RMC toolkit from Collections
Linkhttp://www.collectionslink.org.uk/
2. Get the User Guide from Modes
http://www.modes.org.uk/members/user-guides
- full mapping of RMC / SPECTRUM units of information to Modes
elements.
3. Contact Modes for model templates and element groups.