CIDOC Guidelines for Museum Object Information: Format of the Information Groups and Information Categories Information Group

This page is part of the International Guidelines for Museum Object Information: The CIDOC Information Categories. Developed by the International Committee for Documentation (CIDOC) of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), this is a description of the Information Categories that can be used when developing records about the objects in museum collections. For more information about the Guidelines, turn to the initial page

Information Group

Purpose:

Describes why the Information Group has been included and which of the following criteria for inclusion it satisfies:
Security of collections
Accountability for collections
Access to collections
Historic archive for collections

Information Categories:

A list of the Information Categories contained within the Information Group.

Examples:

Examples of how the Information Categories included in the Information Group are used together.

Notes:

Notes are provided which address issues including the following:

• Whether the Information Group may be used more than once within a single record.
• Recommendations and suggestions on implementing the recording of the Information Group within a system, where appropriate.

Information Category

Alternate name:

Other names that might be used for the Information Category. This list is not exhaustive.

Definition:

A short definition of the category.

Examples:

Examples of information belonging in this Information Category, from a range of collection disciplines.

Notes:

Addresses issues including the following:

• Whether or not an Information Category can be used more than once within an Information Group
• Whether contents of an Information Category should be recorded in natural language or according to a defined syntax or format. For example, dates should always be recorded with the full day, month, and year in the same order and with all four digits used for the year. In these Guidelines, the ISO Standard, Specification for Representation of Dates and Times in Information Interchange (ISO 8601-1988) has been used.
• Whether a controlled vocabulary is recommended for the Information Category. See the section on "Content and terminology control" in the Introduction for further guidance on sources of controlled terminologies.

Move to initial page or the next section, the Information Groups and Catagories

file: guidefm.htm; author: CIDOC; updated June 1995