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Transaction Terms: Preface
SI Data Content Committe, 1994, Version 1.0
The Data Content Committee was formed to make the Smithsonian Institution Data Dictionary more accessible by populating data elements with real terms. Given the scope of Smithsonian collections, the data would become a valuable resource for a broad spectrum of Smithsonian staff. The Committee is composed of staff from the art, science, and cultural history communities, representing both collections and research based units, and has met every month since its inception in 1990 to discuss terminology used in the members' respective bureaus.
To date the Data Content Committee has collected terms for three data elements, and the Transaction Terms document is the first to be published:
- Transactions Terms. A compilation of all the terms used to describe how collecting units acquire, dispose of, lend, and borrow objects. This document includes definitions of the preferred term, actual terms in use, historical terms, and which bureaus use each term. Once the committee finalized this document, it was circulated to interested SI staff for comment. The Committee thought it had compiled a comprehensive list, and was surprised by some of the terms that were added by the National Zoo. It never imagined that bureaus also Acquire by Birth and Dispose by Death and Escape.
- Roles. A list of the roles that people or organizations play in relation to each other and objects. This is an alphabetical list of administrative roles, creator roles, and historical relationships, and the format is similar to the transaction terms document. Hierarchical relationships between and among roles emerged, and some of them appear in the document. A full-blown thesaurus would require substantial additional work - a possibility in the future.
- Object Type. Terms describing different types of objects in the collections. Currently, the committee is soliciting terms from the bureaus and beginning to add definitions.
The committee has gained benefits that go beyond the documents and are as significant as the terminology work itself. It has been an opportunity to become acquainted with counterparts in other bureaus and to work together on projects of mutual benefit. Sometimes it has changed procedures in the museums. It has been an opportunity for members to look at and define data in a different way, detached from particular information systems and processes; and to learn that by so doing, data can serve many functions. The products of the Data Content Committee foster data sharing and pave the way for a unitary Smithsonian Collections Information System.
Staff who worked on this document include Judith Block, NZP; Lee Callander, NMAI; Nan Card, NMAH; Mary Case, formerly of OR; Ellen Folkama, NASM; Rebecca Gregson, AMSG/FGA; Mary Ellen Guerra, NMAA; Christine Hennessey, NMAA; Lauri Hinksman, formerly of AM; Paulette Hughes, formerly of OR; Johanna Humphrey, NMNH; Sue Jenkins, NPG; Jim Mahoney, HMSG; Patricia Nutter, NMNH; Patricia Ann Reed, OIRM; Cordelia Rose, C-HM; Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs, NMAH; Anne Serio, NMAH; Jane Sledge, formerly of OIRM and OR; Jeffrey Smith, NMAfA; Katherine P. Spiess, NMAH; Jann Thompson, NMNH; Linda Thrift, NPG; William G. Tompkins, NCP; and Lee Williams, SITES.
The committee hopes you will find this document informative and useful. We regard it as a dynamic document, subject to revisions as our collections management practices change over time.
Data Content Committee, 1994
Lee Callander NMAI
Ellen Folkama, NASM
Rebecca Gregson, AMSG/FGA
Mary Ellen Guerra, NMAA
Christine Hennessey, NMAA
Lauri A. Hinksman, NCP
Johanna Humphrey, NMNH
Jim Mahoney, HMSG
Patricia Ann Reed, OIRM
Natalie Rjedkin Lee, NASM
Cordelia Rose, C-HM
Debbie Schaefer-Jacobs, NMAH
Anne Serio, NMAH
Jeffrey Smith, NMAfA
Katherine P. Spiess, NMAH
Jann Thompson, NMNH
William G. Tompkins, NCP
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