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

2. 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

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

4. + 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

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

6. Developing the Catalogue

7. 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

8. 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

9. The Summary Tab

10. The Associations Tab

11. The Production Tab

12. The Location Tab

13. 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

14. The Palaeontology Tab

15. The Art Tab

16. 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

17. Original Sites Module

18. New Sites Module

19. Catalogue/Sites Connection

20. 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.

21. 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

22. 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

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

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

25. 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.

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

27. 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.

28. 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.

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

30. Materials thesaurus
World Periods thesaurus

31. 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.

32. 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!

33. Bristol’s Documentation Team
Gareth Salway
Documentation Officer
Laura Phillips
Documentation Assistant (British Archaeology)
Amber Druce
Documentation Assistant (Ethnography and Foreign Archaeology)
Alice Rymill
Registrar