MUSEUM TOL: THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART AUTOMATES ACQUISITIONSAuthor(s): Deirdre Lawrence, Doralynn Pines and Patricia J. BarnettSource: Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, Vol. 3,No. 3 (Fall 1984), pp. 91-92Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of NorthAmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27947321 .

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Art Documentation, Fall, 1984 91

The Canadian Committee has been charged with the de velopment of this proposal.

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POINT. E?. Joseph Masheck. First volume, "Smart Art."

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MUSEUM TOL edited by Deirdre Lawrence

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART AUTOMATES ACQUISITIONS

On September 19, 1983, the Thomas J. Watson Library of The Metropolitan Museum of Art became the first museum library to automate its acquisitions procedures through In novacq, the acquisitions system produced by Innovative In terfaces, Inc. of Berkeley, California. The system was chosen because of its relatively low cost, its ease of use, and its inclusion of a sophisticated fund accounting system that combined bibliographic and fiscal data. Innovacq could interface with the existing cataloging system, RLIN, and was capable of interfacing with an automated circulation system and an online catalog. Innovacq also offered an automated serials check-in and claiming system. Moreover, since In

novacq runs on a microcomputer with a Winchester disc drive, it did not require a controlled environment.

The manual order file with its single entry access was growing by approximately 7000 records per year and was becoming increasingly cumbersome. By the time the Wat son Library began to investigate automated acquisitions systems in April, 1983, Innovacq already had a number of impressive installations. Innovacq was an established

system created by a staff of librarians and computer pro fessionals. It had been installed in several libraries of the University of California and the Greenwich (Conn.) Pub lic Library, and had been adopted by the University of

Toronto Library Automation System (UTLAS). Moreover, the University of Michigan, which had previously used the RLIN acquisitions subsystem, had just changed to Innovacq.

Few adaptations were needed to meet the specifications of a museum library. We wanted to differentiate exhibition catalogs from other titles. Even though there is no key word searching capability, we created an Added Title field that would be able to retrieve records under the artist's name. We needed to record not only purchases, but also gifts and exchanges, and to be able to differentiate between these types of acquisitions. Indeed, the recording of the ex changes has been one of the major advantages of the system, both from the point of view of cutting down on purchase and exchange duplication, and by eliminating much of the paper work necessary to record the gifts and their accompanying acknowledgements.

Through a Boolean search we can retrieve all of the gifts, sort them by the name of the donor, and print out a list at regular intervals. A similar search can retrieve records based on a number of criteria such as language, fund, ven

dor, purchase price, order date, received date, etc. The fund accounting system keeps track of funds encum

bered and spent, and through an impressive visual display, graphs the amounts. In the Watson Library, we created a breakdown of the purchase funds to determine, for report ing purposes, the encumbrances and expenditures of each curatorial department.

The system is capable of recording up to 750 vendors. Innovacq analyzes their performance, recording among

many statistics the amount of business transacted, the number of claims and cancellations sent, and the amount of time it takes to receive a book.

Innovacq was the second system in the Thomas J. Wat son Library to go fully online, unaccompanied by a card file. SCIPIO, RUN'S special auction catalog database to which we are a contributing member, has been operating without card production since 1981. Innovacq represented not only a continuing commitment to library automation, but also, a decision ?at least for the present?to abandon the inte grated systems approach.

In opting for separate systems, we needed to resolve any doubts we had regarding the effects of this decision on a future online catalog: 1. How would RLIN MARC format records interface with the non-MARC records in Innovacq? 2. How would RLIN's sophisticated indexes and indexed fields mesh with the sparsely indexed fields in the Innovacq

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92 Art Documentation, Fall, 1984

records? 3. Would the lack of keyword searching in our acquisitions system limit our ability to do so in an online catalog system? Investigating these issues reaffirmed our feeling that these separate systems were compatible. While Innovacq provided the framework, the library de

fined the fields and indexes suitable for its acquisitions needs. MARC subject fields, note fields, and other fields not defined in the acquisitions system, can be funneled through Innovacq to an online catalog or circulation system. In novacq functions as the translating or interfacing medium. Although a repeatable Author field was found adequate for acquisitions, separate indexes for Personal Author and Cor porate Author could be specified in an online catalog sys tem. RLIN records provide for such distinctions, but the more generic acquisitions fields would require a conversion table.

Finally, an absence of keyword searching in Innovacq's acquisitions system would not affect more elaborate index ing specifications for the same records in an online catalog system. Innovacq based its decision not to index keywords per se on the premise that an acquisition system designed with easy menu and browsing features did not need to rely on the more expensive storage requirements of indexing all keywords.

In one Ottawa library, UTLAS MARC records and In novacq acquisitions records are successfully interfacing in an online catalog. At Michigan State and at California State College in Sacramento, OCLC records are fed into CLSI cir culation systems through Innovacq.

The necessary technology required to integrate catalog ing, acquisitions, and circulation systems is possible today

with microcomputers. A few years ago it would not have been possible for a microcomputer to store this amount of information, but today, storage capacity is relative to the funds available for extended storage on hard discs. At the Thomas J. Watson library we are ready for the next stage of planning for our integrated systems.

Doralynn Pines & Patricia J. Barnett

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

PUBLIC TOL edited by Elizabeth DeMarco

WHY YOUNGER PATRONS ARE IMPORTANT TO THE ADULT ART DEPARTMENT

On Monday mornings after my first cup of coffee, when the week stretches before me with infinite, delicious prom ise, I lay plans for the department's task in its purest state: reference and research work with intensely curious, literate adults in the field of art. By Friday afternoon, when both the coffee pot and my energy are almost depleted, I recognize that "pure" is about as real as the theoretical patron of library school invention. In reality, our patrons, who are of all ages, have widely diverse skills and needs. And they are all important, especially the children. While policies vary greatly from library to library, the wel

come, or lack of it, that preteens receive probably stems most directly from staff enthusiasm and long-standing trad itions. Actually, there are several good reasons why large subject departments should expect to see older children in their territory:

1 ) School assignments are becoming increasingly sophis ticated as are the number of more specialized subjects available to young students. With video tapes, improved education films, and imaginative teachers, a child's hori zons are pushed beyond pictures of Pinkie and Blue Boy to laser art, computer art, and the discovery of Blacks,

women and other minorities as contributors.

2) Personal interests and hobbies of preteens also offer an automatic attraction to department holdings. Books on cartoons, drawing, photography and stamp collecting often bridge an age/skill gap because of a young person's desire for more material. Movie tie-ins, crafts and art projects are additional natural enticements. 3) Young people may also find themselves on our doorstep because their branch is closed or the children's room collection has already been ransacked for other class assignments. 4) The attractions of the adult world are undeniable when you wish you were one. The newspaper and magazine indices which are more fun than Reader's Guide, and the Picture File, an amazing treasure that transfixes even adults, are examples of accessible "adult" material with great appeal to preteens. And so they come?maybe with a class or maybe alone

and timid, or perhaps with an insistent parent. Why are they important to an adult department with a different focus? How can paying attention to their needs be justified when they have their own department? Children are people with the right to examine the world around them. A separate children's room will serve many of their needs, but not all of them. Using an adult department often constitutes the next step in their growth. This commitment to growth and the recognition of diversity makes the public library unique to a young person.

An interest in and commitment to children's needs can also be justified because it helps meet the needs of many adults. In addition to our intensely curious, literate adult, we have borrowers who are retarded and those who do not have the reading skills of a high school graduate. Borderline materials offer them access that would not otherwise be possible. Conversely, the literate adult can sometimes use the illustrations and overview approach offered by materi als aimed at a younger audience.

Several things can be done to make life easier for the young patron and for staff who remain uncomfortable with this perceived "invasion": make them welcome as people (they are our future patrons), think about their needs and interests, and buy for them. An interested child can be more of a joy than a demanding docent and certainly deserves just as much respect. Continuing to recall the benefits of some simpler material for some adults is also helpful. While the adult art patron remains our major concern, there are always areas that dovetail nicely with the interests of older children. Collection flexibility is an admirable goal.

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