If you are using PastPerfect 5 to catalog your museum collections, you might be a little intimidated by all of the fields available for the data entry of object names. Using the PastPerfect Field Descriptions found online on PastPerfect’s website, here is a quick reference for how you might choose to use some or all of those object naming fields.
Courtesy of Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Object Name – This field is found at the top of your cataloging screen. It is controlled by the PastPerfect lexicon and you should select an appropriate term from the lexicon to use here. The terms listed in your lexicon will vary slightly depending on which version of Nomenclature you are using: Revised Nomenclature, Nomenclature 3.0 or Nomenclature 4.0. Select the lexicon screen view on the left side of your cataloging screen to see that the term selected here has auto-filled into the first object name slot.
Other Name – Use this field to record a common alternative name or, if the object is from a non-English speaking culture, the native name of the object if known. There is a 40 character limit on this field.
Courtesy of Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Object Name 2 – This field is found by selecting the lexicon screen view on the left side of the cataloging screen. PastPerfect lets you assign multiple controlled object names to any object. This can help with searching. For example, an object might be a Tapestry and also a Map and you want to be able to search for it using either name. Enter an additional controlled object name in this field.
Object Name 3 – This field is also found within the lexicon screen view and allows you to assign a third lexicon controlled term to the catalog record for searching and cross-indexing purposes. An example would be if the Tapestry and Map listed above is also a Souvenir.
Other Object Names – This field is located within the lexicon screen view and is found just under the first object name. If the object being cataloged requires more than three object names, enter any additional object names in this field. This field allows for unlimited characters so enter as many other lexicon controlled object names as are needed to aid in searching for this record.
Courtesy of Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Title – This field is located on the main cataloging screen for the Art and History screen views. Use this field to enter a word, phrase, or character (s) that names an object or work of art. This field is not controlled by the lexicon so data entry can be more free form than in the controlled object name fields. There is a 250 character limit for this field.
For better search-ability and access to your database, please be consistent in your data entry. Remember to use the controlled terms whenever possible and determine (and stick with) a consistent style for data entry in the non-controlled fields.
