CIDOC Guidelines for Museum Object Information: Location
Information Group
This page is part of the International Guidelines for Museum Object Information:
The CIDOC Information Categories: a description of the Information Categories
that can be used when developing records about the objects in museum collections.
For an outline of the Information Groups and Categories in the Guidelines,
turn to the introductory list.
Purpose:
Location information supports
Security, Accountability, and Access. Without Location information it is
not possible to fulfil the basic responsibilities of a museum, in that
the custodian should always know where objects are and be able to
provide physical access when necessary.
Information categories:
Current location
Current location type
Current location date
Normal location
Examples:
Current location: North
gallery, west wall
Current location type: exhibit
Current location date: 1980-01-04
Normal location: room
3/bay1/rack5
Notes:
- Except for objects able to be made accessible under controlled
conditions (e.g., on exhibition, in a study collection), Location
information should not be made publicly available in order to protect
objects against theft.
- Record Location information for all objects in the custody of the
museum, including those on loan or temporary deposit.
- This Information Group can be recorded more than once. Details of
past Current locations and dates form an audit trail of the object's
movement.
Definition:
A term or code identifying the place where an object is known to be
physically located at the present time.
Examples:
Gallery 56/Case 2/Shelf A
Notes:
- The Current location information should be precise, including,
where appropriate, details of the building, room, cupboard, shelf and
box where an object is known to be.
- The Current location may comprise a hierarchy of different locating
units, from the general to the specific, each unit separated by an
agreed character, e.g., a forward slash "/."
- The Current location should be checked regularly to ensure that it
is correct. This should form part of an audit process.
- For objects on loan to other institutions, the location should
indicate that the object is on loan.
- It is recommended that terms are used for this Information Category
which are agreed within an institution.
Move to beginning of Location
Alternate
names:
Location status
Location description
Definition:
The
nature of the Current location assigned to an object.
Examples:
display
storage
conservation
studio
Notes:
- It is recommended that controlled terms are used for this
Information Category. Refer to the "Content
and terminology control" section in the Introduction for further
guidance on sources of controlled terminology.
Move to beginning of Location
Definition:
The date an object was moved to the Current location.
Examples:
1994-03-15
Notes:
- Always use the same format when recording dates.
- Always record all four digits for the year of a date, e.g., 1994,
not '94.
Move to beginning of Location
Alternate names:
Permanent location
Definition:
A term
or code identifying the place where an object is normally to be located
and to where the object will be returned from the Current location where
this is different.
Examples:
Room
15/Cupboard 3/Shelf 2/Box 14
Notes:
- he Normal location information should be precise, including where
appropriate, details of the building, room, cupboard, shelf, and box
where an object is normally located.
- The Normal location may comprise a hierarchy of different locating
units, from the general to the specific, each unit separated by an
agreed character, e.g., a forward slash "/."
- It is recommended that controlled terms are used for this
Information Category. Refer to the "Content
and terminology control" section in the Introduction for further
guidance on sources of controlled terminology.
Move to beginning of Location
Move to outline of the Information Groups and Categories
or the next section of the Guidelines, Mark and
Inscription
file: guideloc.htm; author: CIDOC; updated June 1995