Catalog Records

OMB Control Number 1084-XXXX Expiration Date: XX/XX/20XX

Department of the Interior Museum Catalog Records Data Standards¹

In an effort to increase accountability and improve the management of and public access to its museum collections, the Department of the Interior (DOI) uses the set of data standards provided below to catalog its museum objects housed at both bureau facilities and non-Federal repositories. Additionally, the DOI is working towards consolidating documentation by migrating catalog data to the Interior Collection Management System (ICMS).

DOI recognizes that non-Federal repositories may not have the information to complete all the fields below for each object. DOI asks that non-Federal repositories voluntarily provide the data for as many fields as possible per object in an Excel spreadsheet or similar format. This will enable DOI to migrate the data into ICMS.

1. For all museum collections, please record the following mandatory catalog data.

1. Accession number.

2. Catalog number.

3. Discipline type and classification. The disciplines used to classify and report DOI museum property are archaeology, archives, art, biology, ethnography, geology, history, and paleontology.

4. Object or scientific name.

5. Unit acronym and/or identifier.

6. Controlled property status.

7. Item count or quantity. Report item count, lot, bulk, and/or linear feet (archives only) as applicable.

8. Current location.

9. Description. In addition to physical description, this field may be used to record the object’s associations with people, resources, or events, and interpretive and research data.

10. Condition.

11. Date cataloged.

12. Cataloger.
    
    

2. For archaeology objects, please record the following mandatory catalog data for site location and/or provenience in addition to the data in section A.

1. State site number.

2. Field site number (as available).

3. Site name and/or place name (as available).

4. Within-site provenience, including collection/excavation unit (as available).

5. UTM coordinates, latitude and longitude, or township/range/section (as available).

6. County.

7. State.

8. Country (if other than the United States).
   
   

3. For biology, geology, and paleontology specimens, record the following mandatory catalog data in addition to the data in section A.

1. Type specimen (if designated and appropriate to the discipline type).

2. Identifier(s).

3. Collecting locality (as available):

1. Collecting locality name and/or place name.

2. UTM coordinates, latitude and longitude, or township/range/section.

3. Collection unit.

4. County.

5. State.

6. Country (if other than the United States).

7. Formation (geology and paleontology only).

8. Period/system (geology and paleontology only).

4. Collector(s).

5. Collector’s number.

6. Collection date.

7. Preservative and/or preparation.
   
   

D. For archives, record the following mandatory catalog data in addition to the data in section A.

(1) Local collection number. This may be the same as the catalog number.

(2) Collection title.

(3) Date(s) documents were created.

(4) Scope and content. This may include but is not limited to information such as collection size and/or materials within the collection (e.g. negatives, documents)

(5) History of the organization or person who created the record group.

(6) Organization and/or arrangement.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is collected on a voluntary basis to satisfy DOI’s responsibilities for ensuring the proper management of DOI museum collections held at non-Federal repositories as defined in 36 CFR Part 79. It is estimated that responding to the request will take an average of 3 hours to complete. This includes the amount of time it takes to gather the information and send it to the requestor. If you wish to make comments on the instructions, please send them to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Interior Museum Program, 1849 C Street N.W., MS-4262-MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240. Note: Comments, names and addresses of commentators are available for public review during regular business hours. If you wish us to withhold this information, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comment. We will honor your request to the extent allowable by law. In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, as amended, the collection has been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget and assigned a control number and expiration date. The number and expiration date are at the top of these instructions. Please note that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

1 Based on Museum Property Directive 3, Required Standards for Documenting Museum Property.