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RLG REACH Element Set
for Shared Description of Museum Objects

In 1997, RLG launched the REACH project to explore how existing information in museum collection management systems could be extracted and repurposed to provide online access to museum object descriptive information.

Within the international museum community, there are a number of standards for museum data. As part of the REACH project, RLG staff identified the core fields shared among the most important of these:

RLG hopes that the REACH element set will prove to be helpful in a variety of ways to museums and other cultural heritage institutions, vendors to the museum community, and others. It is offered here as one means for advancing a more general standard for museum information sharing.

The REACH Element Set

Element 1: Type of Object
Type: Repeatable
Required? Yes
Definition: The classification of the object by type.
Preferred Use: This field is for the term(s) that indicate the classification of the object. For material culture collections, this will tend to be the object name (for example, chair, canoe, etc.); fine art institutions should use this field to specify object genre or format (for example, painting, engraving, etc.)

Element 2: Date of Creation/Date Range
Type: Repeatable
Required? No
Definition: The year in which the object was created; if specific year not known, or if object executed over several years, give date range.
Preferred Use: Dates should be in the format YYYY, or YYYY-YYYY to indicate a date range. Where day and month are available, format should be MM/DD/YY. Where the date represents a BC date, enter as a negative integer, if possible. Note that this field is defined for searching purposes only: no attribution or qualifying information such as circa should be recorded here. Where uncertainty exists, information can be given in the "Notes" field, or, apply the following models: use 19xx for a twentieth century object or 187x for an object dated in the 1870s.

Element 3: Place of Origin/Discovery
Type: Repeatable
Required?: No
Definition: The geographical location in which an object was created.
Preferred Use: This field is for the name for the place where the object was created. Creation place may be a landmass/continent, country, region or city. Levels of hierarchy may be placed in repeating fields (if possible) or incorporated in text (when not stored separately in source database). Separate multiple places with a semicolon followed by an equal sign (;=)

Element 4: Object Name/Title
Type: Repeatable
Required? Yes
Definition: The name or title given to the object by the creator/maker, curator, or owner, or the text of a caption that appears with the image as in prints, cartoons, and photographs.
Preferred Use: The field for a title or name of the object. Descriptive titles or names based on classification terms or object type should be provided for objects that do not have formal titles.

Element 5: Techniques/Process
Type: Repeatable
Required?: No
Definition: A term describing how the object was created.
Preferred Use: This field is for the term(s) that describe how the object was created.

Element 6: Medium/Materials
Type: Repeatable
Required?: No
Definition: The substance(s) of which the object is made.
Preferred Use: This field is for the term(s) that describe the media or material of which the object is made.

Element 7: Dimensions
Type: Repeatable
Required?: No
Definition: Measurements associated with any particular dimension of the object.
Preferred Use: This field is for object measurements, preferrably in metric or U.S. units. The structure of this field is measurement extent (e.g., height, width, depth, etc.), number, and unit of measure without internal punctuation. Use a semicolon followed by an equal sign (;=) to separate multiple measurements.

Element 8: Subject Matter
Type: Repeatable
Required?: No
Definition: The content or subject matter of the object.
Preferred Use: This field is for the word or string of words that describes the subject content of the object. Use a semicolon followed by an equal sign (;=) as the break character between multiple terms.

Element 9: Style/Period/Group/Movement/School
Type: Repeatable
Required?: No
Definition: A term identifying a style or period in the history of art.
Preferred Use: This field is for the term(s) identifying a style or period whose characteristics are represented by the object. These terms should preferrably be in the AAT, except where the AAT is too Western Art centric. Use a semicolon followed by an equal sign (;=) as the break character between multiple terms.

Element 10: Creator/Maker
Type: Repeatable
Required?: Yes
Definition: The name of a person or corporate entity responsible for the design or creation of the object. Where an individual artist is unknown, this field should contain a designation by school and period or the name of the culture group responsible for the creation of the work. The name should represent the attribution currently accepted by the holding institution. Birth and death dates, if known, should go in this field, after the name.
Preferred Use: This field is for the creator/maker name, preferrably in inverted order (surname, first name(s)). Corporate names are the full legal name. For multiple artists, enter their names separated by a semicolon equal sign (;=). The birth and death dates should preferrably be in the format YYYY-YYYY.

Element 11: Nationality/Culture of Creator/Maker
Type: Repeatable
Required?: No
Definition: The name of the culture group responsible for creation of a work that is not attributed to an individual, or the nationality of the individual creator/maker.
Preferred Use: The person's nationality should preferrably be expressed as the adjectival form of an existing nation or historic geographic entity. Multiple nationalities for multiple artists should be order-keyed to the creator/maker name field and separated by a semicolon equal sign (;=).

Element 12: Current Owner
Type: Non-Repeatable
Required? Yes
Definition: The name of the current owner of the object.
Preferred Use: The full name of the owner is preferred.

Element 13: Current Repository Name
Type: Non-Repeatable
Required? Yes
Definition: The full name of the current repository of the object.
Preferred Use: The full name of the current repository of the object is preferred.

Element 14: Current Repository Place
Type: Non-Repeatable
Required? Yes
Definition: The location of the current repository of the object.
Preferred Use: Data should preferrably be in the following order: city, or place, followed by country.

Element 15: Current Object ID Number
Type: Non-Repeatable
Required? Yes
Definition: The inventory number currently assigned to the object by the current repository.
Preferred Use: This field is for the object's accession number or ID number or current inventory number or any unique identifying number as assigned by the current repository. Inventory numbers or other identifiers that may have been assigned to the object by former owners should be reported in the Notes field.

Element 16: Provenance
Type: Repeatable
Required: No
Definition: The name of a previous owner of the object.
Preferred Use: Enter the name of a person, institution, or organization that formerly owned the object.

Element 17: Language
Type: Non-Repeatable
Required? No
Definition: The language in which the data is recorded.
Preferred use: If there is language or text associated with the object, this field is where that language should be indicated.

Element 18: Electronic Location & Access
Type: Repeatable
Required? No
Definition: The URL linking the object record to a digital image of the object or the filename for that digital image.
Preferred Use: Give full URL or unique file name.

Element 19: Related Objects
Type: Repeatable
Required? No
Definition: Object(s) related to the object. For example, when object is part of a collection or a set, suite, ensemble, etc. or, a panel that is part of an altarpiece, etc.
Preferred Use: This field is for information identifying the related object(s)' record. When applicable, include in this field the object ID number from the record of the related object.

Element 20: Notes
Type: Repeatable
Required?: No
Definition: Textual description of object; object history: associated people, organizations, places, and events in the object's history; distinguishing features; inscriptions/marks; condition; edition/state. Any descriptive text, remarks and comments documenting the object or commenting on it from an interpretive/curatorial perspective.
Preferred Use: This field is for any text or comments describing the object from an interpretive/curatorial perspective. This could be the text of a wall label, a full entry from a published catalog, or a multiple page essay. Please consider adding to this field any words or descriptions that would be useful for retrieval.

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Last updated 2 September 1998

This site was frozen in 2004 and is now out of date. Please go to RLG's current Web site for all information. Questions? Contact us.

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