Collection Management Systemof Tokyo National Museum

Ryoji MurataResearcher / ryoji@tnm.jp

Tokyo National MuseumCuratorial Planning Department

Informatics DivisionInformatics Systems Management Section

Agenda

• Japan Art Documentation Society (JADS)

• Tokyo National Museum

• Development of Collection Management System

Brief Introduction to JADS

“The Japan Art Documentation Society (JADS) was founded in April 1989, with the object of promoting the development of art documentation and resolving problems related to such matters within and outside Japan.”

http://www.jads.org/eng/guide/index.html

Brief Introduction to JADS

• Around 300 members– Librarians, Curators, Students of Art History,

Computer Engineers…

• Activities– Workshops, Lecture meetings, Tours…

• Publications– Bulletin of Japan Art Documentation Society

(Annual)– Newsletter of JADS (Quarterly)

Brief Introduction to JADS

20th Anniversary Forum

Art Documentation in JapanAchievements of Two

DecadesPresent, past and future of cooperation among Museum,

Library and Archives

December 4 – 5 , 2009Tokyo National Museum, Japan

http://www.jads.org/eng/

Tokyo National Museum

The First Exposition in Japan

The exhibition opened on March 10, 1872, at the Taiseiden Hall of Yushima Seido. It was part of the preparations to partake in the World's Fair to be held in Vienna the following year.

Museum Building in Ueno

The comprehensive museum with its wide-ranging collection covering history, art and natural history, as well as a library and zoo, was thus established in Ueno.

The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Museum

The Museum's buildings were severely damaged by the 1923’s earthquake. Luckily, many of the items escaped damage.In 1925, animal, plant and mineral collections were transferred to the Tokyo Museum (the present National Science Museum)

Today’s Main Building

The new main building was opened on November 10, 1938.On May 3, 1947 (the new Constitution came into force the previous day), the Imperial Museums were returned to the state, which in turn made them National Museums

Outline of Tokyo National Museum

• One of the six institutes of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage (Independent Administrative Institution)

• Comprehensive collection of art works and archaeological objects of Japan and Asia

• 107 staff members including 55 researchers

Outline of Tokyo National Museum

• 112,529 objects in the collection

• 2,750 objects on long-term loan to the museum

• 209,075 books

• 309,028 photographs

As of March 31, 2009

Outline of Tokyo National Museum

Per year (2008)…

• 2,171,942 visitors

• 7,172 objects for regular exhibitions, 319 changes

• 1,125 objects for loan-out to 135 institutions

Structured Model for Museum Object Information

• Museum Informatics Research Project (2005)

• Aims to support– Daily museum operations– Future information sharing

Full version (Japanese)http://webarchives.tnm.jp/docs/informatics/smmoi/

Entities related to Museum Object

ObjectEvent

Actor

Document

Time Place

occurs

records

has

participates in

Attributes of Museum Object

• Identity– Id, Name, Number…

• Physical feature– Material, Measurement, Amount…

• History– Creation, Excavation, Ownership, Repair, Display…

• Reference– Citation, Image…

Example of Entities and Attributes : Acquisition

object/12

mo:MuseumObject

rdf:type

mo:Acquisition

mo:Event

actor/20

mo:Actor

mo:hadCurrency

mo:hasType

mo:isDocumentedIn

mo:hadCost

mo:wasAcquiredBy

rdf:type

rdfs:subClassOf

Purchase

rdf:type

mo:Document

rdf:type

mo:transferredTitleFrom

1,000,000

Yen

1990-10-30

mo:hasDate

TNM Collection Management System

• Based on the Model

• Integration of Existing Data

• Supports daily operations

Database and Curatorial Tasks

CollectionDatabase

Acquisition

Research

Exhibition

Repair

Loan

Database and Curatorial Tasks

CollectionDatabase

CuratorialTasks

use

record

Elements of Typical Task

Event(Exhibition, Loan, Repair…)

List of Objects

•------------------

•------------------

•------------------

•------------------

•------------------

Period of Time

Place

Actor / Institution

Tree Structure and Schedule Management

Item B

Set of Objects

Item A

Possibly Double Booked

No Problem

Application Structure

Spring fram

ework

RDB(MySQL)

Presentation layer(Servlet + JSP)

Museum ObjectClasses

BusinessService Classes

Data access layer（ Hibernate ）

•Web application

•Collection database

•Management Application

(Loan, Exhibit…)

Basic Functionalities

• Search and browse

• Edit item list

• Process Management

• Output formatted documents

Top pageTop page

Search ResultsSearch Results

Schedule graphsSchedule graphs

Object detailsObject details

Edit / update logEdit / update log

Image viewerImage viewer

List of Regular ExhibitionsList of Regular Exhibitions

Detail of a regular exhibitionDetail of a regular exhibition

Formatted document for a regular exhibitionFormatted document for a regular exhibition

List of Loans-outList of Loans-out

Detail of a loan-outDetail of a loan-out

Detail of a loan-out (2)Detail of a loan-out (2)

Formatted document for loan-outFormatted document for loan-out

Further Development

• Implement remaining type of tasks

• Improve usability

• Publish object data through web