Collections

The CMC's Collections and Information Access Branch preserves, manages, develops and provides information on the Museum's vast store of heritage material.

This year, work continued on the Digitization Project -- a huge multimedia databank of Museum documents and photographs of artifacts, digitally recorded onto Photo-CD technology.

Preparation also continued for the next phase of the project -- making the digitized inventory accessible electronically to users both within and beyond the CMC complex. In addition, staff worked on ensuring that Museum records more accurately reflect Canada's linguistic duality.

Preventive conservation was ongoing, through such means as regular inspections of the reserve collections and cleaning of the artifacts on display. In addition, conservation staff carried out the operation of a fumigation unit to help eradicate insect pests infesting certain artifacts. Staff also provided field support for an archaeological excavation of remains from the Martin Frobisher expedition. Conservation and technical expertise were shared through tours of laboratories, the provision of information workshops, and the training of students.

Services dealing with information resources were consolidated under the Information Management Services Division. It now comprises the library, document collections, audio and visual collections and administrative documents.

Staff worked on computerizing documents and on acquiring and installing new technologies to make information more accessible. Achievements included: progress towards an integrated library system; acquisition of CD-ROM reference tools and the provision of access through the Museum's electronic information delivery system (MOCASIN); and using software for bookbinding and label-making (cutting staff labour in these areas in half).

To keep visitors and Museum staff abreast of technological tools, the Division set up a technology display in its public area and provided training in the use of equipment. In May, the Division presented an exhibit of archival and library materials for the annual meeting of the Association of Canadian Archivists.

To improve services further, staff conducted a user survey over the summer.

Highlights -- Information Management Services

• 13,148 responses to information requests (twice as many as last year)
• 7,343 visitors to library
• 105,033 items consulted by researchers on-site
• 43,036 acquisitions: books, periodicals, photos, audiotapes, videos, document collections
• 8,724 loans: 382 to other institutions; 8,342 to staff and research associates
• 1,481 incoming loans (items borrowed from other institutions)
• 23,024 items catalogued (all media)
• 7 new Mercury Series titles sent to 300 exchange partners
• 33,441 items recorded in inventories

The Conservation and Technical Services Division helped prepare and install several exhibits, most notably Threads of the Land. The work for this exhibition involved conserving 240 complex artifacts, building 80 new display cases and refurbishing a further 60 display cases. Purpose-made mannequin display forms were also constructed for a large number of the costumes in this exhibit. Other achievements included: conserving artifacts for Phase II of the Children's Museum; preparing artwork for Siqiniq: Under the Same Sun; restoring and installing the Ganai totem pole; and completing work on Canada Hall exhibits (the railway station and the grain elevator).

The Collections Management Services Division manages artifacts and records and provides users with background information about them.

In conjunction with the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), the Division revamped the Museum's collections database, making it more user-friendly and much more reliable and efficient as a research tool. This work, lasting more than 12 months, involved standardizing access to information from all the major research disciplines and collections of the CMC. Entries are now cross-referenced to over 270 fields, allowing "one-stop shopping" for data, instead of the individual database searches required previously. This work will continue into the coming months.

This year too, the Division continued its involvement in the training of museum professionals. It sponsored museum technology internships and summer projects, supported the CMCC's Aboriginal Training Programme and hosted a delegation of Thai officials from various cultural agencies.

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Highlights -- Collections Management Services

This year the Division:

• Created 3,736 records documenting objects in the Museum's National Collections;
• Created 2,718 records documenting items in the Living History Collections;
• Processed 243 accession lots and individual acquisitions;
• Made objects from the collections reserves available for use in various programmes and activities (12,898 movements of objects);
• Worked on more than 20,000 specimens from 20 archaeological sites;
• Processed 46 incoming loans (141 items) and 22 outgoing loans (72 items);
• Made collections items available to 6 travelling exhibitions;
• Treated and stored 2,300 moulds and 239 casts of archaeological specimens;
• Continued the task of physically verifying location records of items in the Museum's collections (since the 1992 move to the CMC complex, the Division has verified 90 per cent of the 147,257 records).

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