European Registrars Conference 2010 – Moving the MAS-collections

Annelies De Mey, move coordinator

INTRODUCTION

  1 new museum (MAS) opening May 2011; uniting the collections from the Ethnographic, Maritime and Folklore museum

  400.000 objects moving from the 3 old locations to the exhibition halls of the MAS and 3 different depots   reduced to 40.000 individual objects and bulk packagings (containing

permanently packed paper and smaller objects)   most objects registrated in Adlib-database

  Adlib developped a system to automatically process all the movements of objects in the registration database (Adlib)   working online : real-time processing   using barcodes and barcodescanners : museumtrackers   differentiating objects, packages and locations   implementing a hierarchy in the (new) packagings database

LABELING OBJECTS, BOXES AND LOCATIONS

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

  multiple scanning: while packaging (objects and boxes), transporting, unpacking and placement in new location   offering monitoring opportunities

  ‘lost’ objects   the amount of objects packed in box is shown on scanner   object information – packages information

  the location history and packaging history in adlib shows the itinerary of an object

  special museum staff for guidance and follow up   courses organised to instruct the museum staff and art-handlers   strict controls during packaging, transporting, …

  our own ‘Adlib’ computer expert ‘on call’ to solve emerging problems and adjust the software when needed

UNPACKING - USING THE MUSEUMTRACKER

LOCATION ADMINISTRATION IN THE ADLIB DATABASE

LOCATION ADMINISTRATION IN THE ADLIB DATABASE

LOCATION ADMINISTRATION IN THE ADLIB DATABASE

LOCATION ADMINISTRATION IN THE ADLIB DATABASE

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

  user-friendly museumtracker and software

  small margin of error (in normal use and with close follow up)   stable wifi necessary (strong preference for working online)

  fast : ‘transport’ of a box with 100 items processed in less than 60 seconds

  the necessary treatments, future location, … are shown on the museumtracker while scanning the barcodes of objects or packagings

  replaces transport lists and indications on the packagings themselves

  useful in the regular depot operations

  museum staff and art handlers (Hizkia Van Kralingen) are all very enthousiastic

SCREEN SHOT OF MUSEUMTRACKER

necessary treatments and future location are shown on the screen of the museumtracker while scanning the object barcode