General Functions of a Collections Management System

I am busy writing a summary of our information resources at RBGE and as part of this I am asking people to list what the high level ‘uses’ of their databases are. I am just after a power point or two worth of information. Most of these databases are catalogues of physical objects – they are collections management systems varying from spreadsheets to complex multi-user systems. While I am waiting for the results I found myself thinking up a generic list of functionality for a collections management system.  This is my list:

• Preserve– Key function is to make sure the collection persists. If it doesn’t persist it will not be available for future use.
  • Track loans in and out of the system so we don’t lose stuff when people borrow it.
  • Control destructive sampling so when we do lose stuff it is done with purpose.
  • Control deaccessioning of material so we only throw out the dead weight – not the good stuff.
  • Manage prophylactic preservation treatments such as cleaning and insect control.
  • Manage restoration tasks. When damaged objects are discovered arrange for them to be stabilized/fixed.
• Publish– Key function is to make the contents of the collection available for research and enjoyment.
  • Search/Query interface to discover content.
    • Index of what the collection contains – who/what/when/where
    • Track physical location of the object within the collection so it can be retrieved.
  • Share with aggregators of collections information.
  • Control access – copyright/moratoriums/sensitive info.
  • Generate Sales leads – potentially raise funds by selling reproduction rights.
  • Profile/Brand/Marketing – wider awareness to support public funding of collection.
  • Provide electronic citation mechanism e.g. persistent URLs and DOIs to support researchers and publishers.
• Enrich– Key function is to increase the value of the collections.
  • Accept donations/purchase of new materials
  • Extract/augment information not inherent in the objects e.g. geocoding of collecting location
  • Collect annotations to object by scholars and others.
  • Link to related external sources and encourage linking back to individual objects.

This is just a brain dump and may be a little too long – four power point slides total. What do you think?