Data Format Standards
Data Format standards (sometimes called data content standards or cataloguing standards) provide rules for structuring information, in order to help a museum determine how to record information about their collection. They can include information on punctuation, diacritics, rules for recording titles, names of people, places, and organizations, capitalization, format for dates, etc. Consistent documentation, both within single databases and across multiple repositories, will increase access to the content by maximizing search results. Data content standards are also important in manual systems. The following content standards are especially relevant in the museum context:
Cataloguing Cultural Objects (CCO) A Guide to Describing Cultural Works and Their Images - Draft (Feb. 2004):
A project of the Visual Resources Association. Guides the choice of terms, and defines order, syntax, and form for data values for cataloguing cultural objects. Can be used in the development of in-house cataloguing rules. Designed for catalouging works of art, cultural artifacts, and their visual surrogates; cataloguing original objects may require some additional, specialized guidelines. Primary emphasis on desciptive metadata; excludes administrative and technical metadata. Controlled vocabularies and thesauri are recommended. Available in English only.
Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (AACRII)
AACRII are a set of cataloguing rules used by libraries in most English-speaking countries, and increasingly used throughout the world. Useful to museums in that it contains format standards for the names of people, places, and corporate bodies, along with rules for capitalization, abbreviation, and numerals. Available on line in English only.
Rules for Archival Description (RAD)
Published in 1990 by the Bureau of Canadian Archivists, RAD provides archivists with a set of rules which "aim to provide a consistent and common foundation for the description of archival material within fonds, based on traditional archival principles"1. Provides information on the units of information to be recorded about archival collections, as well as rules to ensure consistent cataloguing. Museums that have archival collections can use RAD. Yukon museums are using RAD to describe their archival collections at the fonds level. For further information on the use of RAD in Yukon museums, contact Drew Ball at Drew.Ball@gov.yk.ca. RAD is available on line in English or in French.
The Standards Centre of the National Archives of Canada (now the Library and Archives of Canada is able to provide limited assistance to institutions regarding the Rules for Archival Description (RAD). This assistance could take the form of professional advice, e.g., responding to questions, providing training, or assisting with interpretations of the standard. Provincial archives associations can also sometimes assist with training in RAD.
Capitalization of Data in the PARIS System
This CHIN Documentation Research Paper provides guidelines for the recording of personal names and titles, geographic, religious, and scientific names, culture, languages, corporate bodies, documents, events, medals, publications, brand names, courses of study, time divisions, currency, weights, and measures, geological and astronomical terms, and environmental phenomena. Print version available in English or in French.
Documenting your collections Info-Muse network documentation guide. Published by La Société des musées québécois (SMQ), this guide offers assistance with cataloguing museum collections. Compatible with the CHIN data dictionary, it covers data fields for the humanities, archaeology, and natural sciences. Suggests classification systems, offers guidelines on measuring objects, and provides sample documentation sheets. Available in French and English in print format.
Les règles d'inscription des noms propres
Developed by the Société des musées québécois (SMQ), this document offers guidelines for recording proper names (names of people and organizations). Available in French only.