Robyn: I haven't used Mimsy, so I couldn't say if it supports this, but what I've done with a few different databases now is to create an Exhibition record that links all of the items. But for individual, discrete groups, I've always had to manually "massage" the labels, then save the label to the individual records. These records will share a record that they were in an exhibition together, and the same label document or record, but have no other relationships.
I know that's kind of fiddly, but that might be one way of attacking the problem. Best, ~P On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Sanford, Robyn <rsanford at lacma.org> wrote: > I have a question for all of you data people out there. > > > > We're going to have a costume show of our permanent collection where > mannequins will be dressed in complete outfits. This means that there > will be objects that each have their own individual record in our > database on a single mannequin. These objects may have had no previous > relationship to one another in the past (they do not share similar > accession numbers, etc, etc...). My dilemma is that we use the database > to create our labels and of course we want to retain the label text in > the database for perpetuity. > > I am not sure how to do this short of creating a single parent record in > the database that links to them all, which I do not want to do. Aside > from the expected questions of what number am I supposed to give a > record like that, I also don't think it is a good policy to implement as > users would be inclined to update the label text on the record for the > labels and not the objects themselves. Or if they were so good to update > everything, well then they are just duplicating data across 2 or more > records which just seems unnecessary. > > > > Has anyone had to deal with this before or have any ideas? We use Mimsy > by the way. > > > > Robyn Sanford > > Associate Registrar, Database Manager and Special Projects > > > > LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART > > 5905 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD > > LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA 90036 > > > > T 323 857 4769 > > F 323 857 6213 > > E rsanford at lacma.org <mailto:rsanford at lacma.org> > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > The MCN-L archives can be found at: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ >
