Data Structure Standards, also known as Metadata Structure Standards, are something that I touched on in my previous posts. These standards give museums guidelines on how to record the metadata in their records.
You are probably wondering “Wait, there is more than one standard?”
Yes, there is. The art world uses language that the natural sciences do not use. So each discipline has data standards to choose from. You can check out the list here: https://www.canada.ca/en/heritage-information-network/services/collections-documentation-standards/chin-guide-museum-standards/metadata-data-structure.html
Here is an example of one data standard:
The SPECTURUM data standard (Standard Procedures for Collections Recording Used in Museums) was created in 1991 by the Collection Trust, a non-profit organization located in the United Kingdom. This standard has five versions, the latest one being released this year. Today SPECTRUM is the collections management standard in the United Kingdom and used in many countries around the world. The website gives you all the resources you need to do anything related to documenting an object in a museum.
SPECTRUM is unique in that it is both a data and procedural standard. A procedural standard means that it goes through each step in the process of adding or removing an object from a museum’s collection. Having this additional usage means that SPECTRUM is a multi-functional standard.
All of this praise may seem like it would be the perfect standard for everyone to use, but that it not the case. This standard was created by and for museums in the United Kingdom. This means that users in other countries need to make sure that they enter information that best fits how their users are searching the catalog. For example, United States users will find measurements in inches more helpful than those in centimeters. There is also a very long list of fields that can be used in this standard; the appendix is a one hundred and sixty seven page long document. What this means is that users must choose the fields that fit their needs.
Overall, SPECTRUM is a great standard for museums around the world to use to standardize their data so that it can be used and shared by all types of users.
