Making EMu Work for Multi-disciplinary Collections Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives

Making EMu Work for Multi-disciplinary Collections Bristol’s Selection of EMu EMu’s Role Within the Organisation Developing EMu to Manage Multi-disciplinary Collections - The Catalogue module - The Sites module - The Thesaurus module The Progress So Far

Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives City Museum & Art Gallery The Georgian House The Red Lodge Blaise Castle House Museum Industrial Museum/Museum of Bristol

+ A Multi-disciplinary Collection Applied Art Archaeology Biology Community History Eastern Art and Culture Ethnography and Foreign Archaeology Fine Art Geology Industrial and Maritime History Social History + Photographic Collections Multi-disciplinary Handling Collection

Procuring a CMS Bristol’s Selection of EMu EMu’s Role Within the Organisation

Developing the Catalogue

The Catalogue must be able to… Comprehensively manage data for all collections Be simple to use by all staff Be simple in data structure terms Enable seamless searches across all collection disciplines

The Catalogue Hierarchy Department Collection Applied Art - Applied Art Biology - Biology British Archaeology - Archaeology - Site Archive Eastern Art - Eastern Art Ethnography & Foreign Archaeology - Ethnography - Foreign Archaeology - Maps - Militaria - Numismatics Fine Art - Fine Art Geology - Maps and Plans - Mineralogy - Palaeontology - Petrology Industrial and Maritime History - Industrial and Maritime History Learning - Learning Social History - Social History

The Summary Tab

The Associations Tab

The Production Tab

The Location Tab

Subject Tabs Art Biology Specimen Palaeontology Petrology/Mineralogy Site Archives 1 Site Archives 2 Arch & Ethno Objects Numismatics 1 Numismatics 2 Maps and Plans Photographs History

The Palaeontology Tab

The Art Tab

Full Tab List Summary Classification Inscriptions Dimensions References Materials Relationships Parts Subjects Valuation Notes Deaccession Cons Desc Condition Pest M'gmt Environment Display Storage Tasks Multimedia Admin Security Narratives Conservation Movements Loans Events Summary Associations Production Location Art Biology Specimen Palaeontology Petrology/Mineralogy Site Archives 1 Site Archives 2 Arch & Ethno Objects Numismatics 1 Numismatics 2 Maps and Plans Photographs History

Original Sites Module

New Sites Module

Catalogue/Sites Connection

Collections Management challenges: Using EMu to solve Collections Management challenges: British Archaeology Department & Archaeological Site Archives Standardisation of Data Entry for Improved Access to the Collections F1980: Roman brooch, Charterhouse, Somerset. F2019: Roman ‘face’ from Charterhouse, Somerset. F789: Roman Samian ware bowl, from Camerton, Somerset.

Challenge 1: British Archaeology Department & Archaeological Site Archives Goal: Improve efficiency and quality of site archive records Outline of challenge Solutions using EMu Excavation at Bristol University, April 2009: Civil War Trench / Defences

The Challenge of Managing Site Archives: Bulk Finds from Excavations Unpublished Excavation Report Paper Archives Small Finds: Individually bagged A box of Small Finds Original Section Drawing

Site Archive Solutions Using EMu: Catalogue Module: Summary Tab for Site Archive record

Site Archive Tab 1: Fields for entering data specific to entire archaeological site.

Site Archive Tab 2: Fields for entering multiple museum storage locations for all of the bulk finds and paper archives related to one archaeological site.

Relationships tab: Lists all of the ‘child’ (small / published finds) records for this archaeological site.

Challenge 2: Standardisation of Data Entry Goal: Improve consistency of data entry for selected fields Outline of challenge Solutions using EMu F3657: ‘Pool farm cist slab’ - grave lining with prehistoric carvings from Somerset.

The Challenge of Consistency in Data Entry: ? Is it a collar? Is it a torc ? Is it bronze? Is it copper alloy? When is the Iron Age in Somerset? E1784: Iron Age torc / collar from Wraxall, Somerset.

Solutions Using EMu: Object simple name field links to Department specific object thesauri:

Materials thesaurus World Periods thesaurus

Please can we have a new module for managing terminology? Q3310: Early 16th century misericord from Bristol Cathedral, showing lewd scene from the tales of Reynard the fox. The nature of the scene caused the Victorians to remove it from the Cathedral.

The Progress So Far… Implementation across all Collections and Conservation Departments Configuration of modules and fields, populating look-up lists, field help and thesauri, cleansing of legacy data Importing of additional legacy data and bulk-loading of image files Using EMu to manage content development for the Museum of Bristol Using EMu to manage master image files for Bristol Cultural Digitisation Bureau Defining EMu’s role in new website and Museum of Bristol Online access to collections records – nearly! Further changes to Catalogue and supporting modules commissioned and tested Phew!

Bristol’s Documentation Team Gareth Salway Documentation Officer gareth.salway@bristol.gov.uk Laura Phillips Documentation Assistant (British Archaeology) Laura.phillips@bristol.gov.uk Amber Druce Documentation Assistant (Ethnography and Foreign Archaeology) amber.druce@bristol.gov.uk Alice Rymill Registrar alice.rymill@bristol.gov.uk