Frequently asked questions from museum participants and the museum and research sectors about the Museum Metadata Exchange project are listed here and answers supplied. If a question you have isn’t answered here or doesn’t give you enough information please email the project team and an answer will be provided and posted up here.
How many collection descriptions do we need to provide?
Who is the audience for this material?
What will be the end product of this project?
Can objects and/or groups of objects be covered by more than one collection description?
Can we include material which is not fully documented and/or not digitised?
How will these descriptions be linked back to my institution?
Once my data is up there can I change it?
What is the purpose of significance for collection descriptions?
Where can I find data entry templates?
How many collection descriptions do we need to provide?
Approximately 50 collection descriptions per institution. The overall aim is 700 collection descriptions from the 15 participating institutions. We will, of course, be very happy to receive more!
Who is the audience for this material?
The primary audience will be researchers in field of humanities, arts and social sciences. This could include academics, historians, social researchers, writers etc.
What will be the end product of this project?
Your data will be placed on the Australian Research Data Commons. The aim is to facilitate research and collaboration as well as to inform the research community of the fantastic material available in our collections.
Can objects and/or groups of objects be covered by more than one collection description?
Yes – we would expect that many objects could be represented in multiple collections.
Can we include material which is not fully documented and/or not digitised?
Yes – the aim of this project is alert researchers to the existence and availability of these resources.
How will these descriptions be linked back to my institution?
Researchers will be directed to contact your institution to access the material. Where a collection has been digitised there will be pointer back to your web site.
Once my data is up there can I change it?
Yes – institutions will be able to add, change or remove their material as they wish.
What is the purpose of significance for collection descriptions?
A collection description can simply be a brief statement of contents. Significance provides further detail and context for the collection. This will provide a richer record for researchers and can include aspects about the collection which may not obvious with just a listing of the objects. For example a collection of glassware may be significant because of the manufacturing technique or the fact it was used by the hotel industry.
Where can I find data entry templates
Templates are available in both Word and Excel here