Parties module

From EMu 6.2 onwards it is possible to define gender identities.

The Gender field is a drop list with an associated Lookup List in which any gender can be specified.

A Lookup List can be specified to be ReadOnly (users can only select a value in the list) or ReadWrite (users can add new values to the list), etc. If a list is set to ReadOnly, suitably authorized users can specify gender values in the Lookup List module.

See Working with Lookup Lists for details.

The Parties module holds information about individuals and organizations with some involvement with the activities of the museum and its collection. Parties can be artists, authors, manufacturers, donors, collectors, researchers, staff, conservators, carriers, exhibition organizers, insurers, lending and borrowing institutions, and so on.

Information that can be recorded includes name, various addresses and phone numbers, email and web addresses, biographical and historic information. The Parties module provides support for synonymy of names (i.e. one identity known by several names) and is compatible with the Getty Union List of Artists' Names.

A Party may be an individual, a group or department within an institution; or an external individual, group or organization.

  • Source or vendor of an object
  • Organizer of an event or exhibition
  • Borrower or lender of an object
  • Author, contributor or publisher of an object
  • Owner or maker of an object
  • Photographer who created an image
  • Artist who created an illustration or work
  • Copyright manager
  • Person who verified taxonomic details for an object
  • Site owner
  • Recipient for an object in a collection event
  • Participant in a collection event
  • Contact person responsible for the internal or external movement of an object
  • Object packer, transporter, movement supervisor, or requester
  • Person or organization involved in the conservation and maintenance of an object
  • Person who supervises the conservation of an object
  • Insurer and / or indemnifier of an object
  • Author of a narrative
  • Person responsible for the condition checks of an object
  • Valuer of an object
  • Donor of an object

A record is created in the Parties module for each party, recording personal, contact, address and role details.

As a Party may be connected with many objects and events within an institution, it is possible that a single Party record is linked (attached) to many records in multiple modules. Linking records in this manner saves time and effort as information about a Party need only be entered once in EMu and if any details change, only one record - the Parties record - needs to be updated.

Each Party in the Parties module is assigned a Party Type:

The Party Type field is a tab switchingClosed Dynamic adjustment of the tabs displayed in a module based on a user's choices (e.g. different sets of tabs display when "Person" or "Organisation" are selected from the Party Type drop list in the Parties module). field, which means that the fields and tabs that display in the Parties module will vary depending on which Party Type is selected.

Common Party Types include:

A Person (alternatively Individual) Party Type is used to record details about an individual person with a connection to your institution or to an object in your collection.

A person assigned a Person Party Type can also be associated with an organization but it is this individual who has the connection with the institution rather than their role or position within an organization. In this case you create a Person Party Type and record details about their organization on the Organization tab. (See also Position parties.)

If the relationship with the Organization were the primary relationship, you would create an Organization Party Type.

The main tabs you would use to record details for a Person Party Type are:

Tab

Description

Person

The person's name, gender and language.

Organization

Details about the organization to which the person belongs, including their position within the structure of the organization.

Address

The person's (or their organization's) postal and physical address.

Roles

Roles that the person plays and any areas of specialty.

Associations

People, groups, organizations associated with the person.

Biography

Biographical details about the person, e.g. date of birth, period of activity, and heritage.

Synonymy

Links to other Parties records that are synonymous with the person.

A Position Party Type is used to record a specific position within an organization or department rather than a specific individual.

For example, the Collection Curator within the Fine Arts department can be assigned a Position Parties record. When a new acquisition or object is recorded a link can be made to this Position Parties record rather than to a Person Parties record (which would record the personal details of the current collection curator). This means that the link will still be correct even if the current curator leaves this position and a new collection curator is appointed.

Note: It is preferable to check out object loans to a Position rather than to a Person.

The main tabs you would use to record details for a Position Party Type are:

Tab

Description

Person

The name, gender and language of the individual currently holding the position.

Organization

Details about the organization in which the position operates.

Address

The organization's postal and physical address.

Synonymy

Links to other Parties records that are synonymous with the position.

An Organization Party Type is used to record details of an organization rather than an individual.

The main tabs you would use to record details for an Organization Party Type are:

Tab

Description

Organization

The organization's name(s) and structure.

Address

The organization's postal and physical address.

Roles

Roles that the organization plays and areas of specialty.

Associations

People, groups, organizations associated with the organization.

History

Historical details about the organization, including period of activity.

Synonymy

Links to other Parties records that are synonymous with the organization.

A Collaboration Party Type is used to group two or more Parties that work together with a common purpose or task.

Note: Before a Collaboration record can be created, all members must first have individual Parties records in the Parties module.

The advantage of using a Collaboration Parties record is evident when a group of Parties regularly collaborate. If it is often necessary to link to each of the Parties records, create a single Collaboration Parties record and link to that rather than to the individual Parties records.

For example, a group of experts may work together to evaluate objects or describe a taxon. It is more efficient to group these individuals as a Collaboration Party Type and to link each Catalogue record to the one Collaboration Parties record, rather than linking each Catalogue record to multiple Parties records.

The main tab you would use to record details for a Collaboration Party Type is:

Tab

Description

Collaboration

Names of people and / or organizations who have worked together and their respective roles in the collaboration.

The advantage of using a Collaboration Parties record is evident when a group of Parties regularly collaborate. If it is often necessary to link to each of the Parties records, create a single Collaboration Parties record and link to that rather than linking to the individual Parties records.

  1. Create a Parties record of type Person for each person that is to become part of the collaboration.
  2. Add a new record in the Parties module and select the Collaboration Party type.
  3. Attach the Person Parties records for each collaborator to the Collaborator: (Collaboration) field.

    Select the next row (with asterisk) to attach another Parties record.

  4. If required, type a role in the Role: (Collaboration) field, indicating the role played by that person in the collaboration.
  5. Save the record.

The Union List of Artists Names (ULAN) database is a structured list of artist names and biographies produced by the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, USA. Its web address is:

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/ulan/about.html

The ULAN database currently comprises more than 100,000 individual artists (creators, performance artists, decorative artists) and architects. The Getty Institute holds the copyright to the ULAN database and an institution must obtain a license before ULAN data can be used in EMu.

ULAN records can be imported into EMu by Axiell developers at the direction of an institution whenever an update of the database is released.

The main tabs used to record details for a ULAN Party Type are:

Tab

Description

ULAN 1

Includes artists name, variant name, biography and source. This tab is set to read-only.

ULAN 2

Relationships and descriptive notes. This tab is set to read-only.

Roles

Roles that the person / organization plays and any areas of speciality.

Biography

Biographical details about a person, e.g. date of birth, period of activity and heritage.

Other Party Types include:

Note: Institutions can define other Party Types that meet their requirements.

EMu 10 saw the introduction of an enhanced version of the Parties module, with new Party Types, additional and changed tabs and, in some cases, new functionality. Several Registry entries have been introduced that enable institutions to use Standards module definitions rather than EMu's default method for generation of derived names (on the Persons tab), and the format of address strings (on the Address tab). Tab size was increased to allow more information to be included on a tab.

Institutions upgrading to EMu 10 have the option to install the enhanced Parties module or they can continue to use the prior version of the module. All new implementations of EMu will have the enhanced version of the Parties module.

The table below includes details about key changes to tabs introduced with EMu 10, and functionality available with the EMu 10 Parties module:

Tab

Description

Person

 

Holds personal details, including:

  • Name
  • Gender
  • Language
  • Derived Names

    See Archives for details about the Archival: (Derived) field.

Person tab

The Derived Names group of fields contains nine settings for deriving names:

Field

 Description

Automatic

Drop list with two values:

All

When selected, all the checkboxes are set to Yes and are read-only:

Individual

When selected, the checkboxes can be set individually:

 

If a checkbox is:

Checkbox

Result

Ticked

The associated Derived Names field is read-only and the value is derived (on record save) using either EMu's default method or the Standards module's name generation record definitions.

Which method is used depends on the Derived Names Enabled Registry entry.

Unticked

A value can be entered manually in the field.

Organization

Details about an organization, including its structure and other names.

When Party Type = Person or Position, the Organization Details and Name Details groups of fields on the Organization tab are read-only:

Organisation

The information in these two groups of fields is maintained in another Parties record (with a Party Type of Organization) linked to Organization: (Affiliated With) on the Affiliations tab:

Affiliations

When Current: (Affiliated With) = Yes on the Affiliations tab, address details from the linked Organization record are copied to the Physical Address fields on the Address tab.

Tip: If the organization's address details are updated in the linked Organization record, it is possible to update the Physical Address fields by selecting the Current: (Affiliated With) No radio button and then selecting Yes again.

The Institution>Organization>Department>Branch>Section fields in Organization Details are a Lookup List hierarchy:

Organisation

To capture the organizational hierarchy in which a person fits it may be necessary to have a Parties record for each level of the hierarchy. For example, John Smith is in the Natural History Department of The National Museum and we have linked Organization: (Affiliated With) on the Affiliations tab to this record:

Organisation hierarchy

If John Smith was a member of the Work and Industry branch in the Cultural History Department, we would instead link to a Parties record with these details:

Organisation hierarchy

Associations

The Associations tab is used to document people, groups, organization, etc. associated with the current party.

Associations

Field Group

Details

Associated With

Link to another Parties record.

Associates

Link to another Parties record.

Supporting Citations

Link to a Bibliography record with details of citations written by this Party. For each entry it is possible to document:

  • A page reference in Pagination: if a book has multiple citations by the Party, you could link to the book's Bibliography record as many times as necessary and provide a page reference for each citation.

  • A Cross Reference.

  • Any Remarks.

The References tab can be used to document any references about this Party.

Supporting Archives

Link to an archives record in the Catalogue (Object Type = Archive - EAD or Archive - ISAD(G)) with details of archival material relevant to this Party.

Collaborations

Parties can be involved in various collaborations, and these can be documented in a Parties record where Party Type = Collaboration. If the current party is included in a Collaboration record, that record is automatically listed here so that the association is clear.

Collaboration

When two or more parties collaborate in some way, the relationship can be documented in a Parties record with a Party Type of Collaboration.

A Collaboration tab is available when Party Type = Collaboration:

Collaborations

Field Group / Name

Details

Collaboration Name

Enter a descriptive name for the collaboration or select the checkbox to derive a name.

Note: If the field already has a name entered, it will remain unchanged if the checkbox is selected.

Collaboration

Link to the record for each Party involved in the collaboration. A minimum of two Parties records must be listed.

This Collaboration Parties record is automatically listed in the Collaborations table on the Associations tab for each Party involved in the collaboration:

Collaboration

Address

Address of the person and / or organization.

Address tab

Note: In order to accommodate other fields on the Address tab the Party Type field is located in the bottom right corner.

Field Group

Field

Details

Postal Address

 

The Copy button in the Postal Address group of fields can be used to copy details from the Physical Address fields to the equivalent Postal Address fields:

Physical Address String

Postal Address String

Automatic

Drop list with two values:

No

Select No (or leave blank) to enter a physical / postal address string manually.

Yes

Select Yes to generate a physical / postal address string automatically; the Parties Address String definition in the Standards module is used to format the address string:

Note: Subsequently, if the address details in Physical Address / Postal Address change, the associated address string will automatically update when the record is saved.

Standards module

Address formats are defined in the Standards module. Two default definitions, named in Term: (Definition), are provided:

  • pas:PhysDefault (shown above)
  • pas:PostDefault

If a country requires a format different from the default format, a record can be added to capture and apply that format. When Automatic is set to Yes, the associated default address format is used unless a format has been defined for a specific country, in which case that format is used.

The Term: (Definition) comprises three components:

Type

Value

Details

An acronym

pas:

This identifies the record as a Parties Address String.

The address type

Phys

or

Post

Phys is for a Physical Address format.

Post is for a Postal Address format.

The country

Default

or a country name

Default is used for all countries unless a country has its own specification.

For example, if we need to specify a physical address format for England, we would create a Standards module record with a Term: (Definition) of:

pas:PhysEngland

If England is matched in the relevant Country field, the format specified in pas:PhysEngland is used.

The formatting code for the address is stored on the Script tab:

Standards

Site

Autofill Addresses

Drop list with two values: No / Yes

When a Sites record is attached in the attachment field and Autofill Addresses = Yes, the preferred Centroid (Decimal) from the Sites record is copied to the Latitude (Dec) and Longitude (Dec) fields:

References

The References tab is used to document any published references about the Party.

References tab

References

Field

Details
Reference Links to a Bibliography record with details of any references about this Party.
Kind Lookup List. Identify the type of publication or reference.

Page/Figure/Plate

Document a page, figure or plate number within the publication that references the Party.

Caption/Text

Document any relevant textual details from the referenced page, figure or plate.
URL/LOD Associations

The URL/LOD Associations tab displays when Party Type is one of the following:

  • Person
  • Individual
  • Organisation or Organization

It is used to document web associations and linked open data about the Party. URL links associated with the Party include LOD (Linked Open Data) references such as Wikidata:

URL

Biography

Holds a person's biographical details, including:

  • Dates of birth and death
  • Heritage

Affiliations

Documents any organizations with which the current Party is associated or affiliated.

Affiliations

When Current: (Affiliated With) = Yes, address details from the linked Organization record are copied to the Physical Address fields on the Address tab.

When Party Type is set to Person or Position, the Organization Details and Name Details groups of fields are read-only:

Organisation

The information in these two groups of fields is maintained in another Parties record (with a Party Type of Organization) linked to Organization: (Affiliated With) on the Affiliations tab.

More details about how this tab interacts with the Organisation tab are provide here.

Names

Documents different names associated with the Party. It displays when Party Type is Person or Individual:

Names tab

When Type: (Name Details) = Primary, any change to a field in the Name Details group of fields is automatically made to the equivalent field on the Person tab, and vice versa.

Military

Documents military information about a person. It displays when Party Type is either Person or Individual:

Military tab

Culture

The Culture tab displays when Party Type is one of the following:

  • Cultural Group
  • Culture
  • Group
  • Family
  • Whānau

Culture tab

Synonymy

Links to other Parties records that are synonymous with this Parties record.

Notes

See Notes tab for details.

Multimedia

See Multimedia tab for details.

Security

See Security tab for details.

Audit

See Audit tab for details.

Admin

See Admin tab for details.

Note: As every institution is able to customize EMu to suit its requirements, there are many different versions of EMu. Even where institutions have the same modules, the tabs included in each instance of the module may be different; and even where institutions have tabs with the same name, the fields on those tabs may be different. For that reason this section only provides a general description of modules.

Tab

Description

Person

 

Holds personal details, including:

  • Name
  • Gender
  • Language
  • Derived

    See Archives for details about the Archival: (Derived) field.

Organization

Details about an organization, including its structure and other names.

Address

Address of the person and / or organization.

Roles

Lists roles that the person / organization plays and areas of speciality.

Associations

Lists people, groups, organization, etc. associated with the this Parties record.

Biography

Holds a person's biographical details, including:

  • Dates of birth and death
  • Heritage

Synonymy

Links to other Parties records that are synonymous with this Parties record.

Notes

See Notes tab for details.

Multimedia

See Multimedia tab for details.

Security

See Security tab for details.

Audit

See Audit tab for details.

Admin

See Admin tab for details.

To create a new Party:

  1. Add a new record in the Parties module.
  2. Select a Party Type from the Party Type drop list.

    The tab display will change according to the Party Type selected.

  3. Complete the fields in the module with all known data.
    If you are unsure of a value to add to a field, use the Lookup ListClosed Also known as a Pick List or Authority List, a Lookup List is a list of the values that have either been used or are suggested for use in a field. Rather than keying a value into the field, it is possible to pick a value from the Lookup List; the selected value will populate the field. Lookup List (F12) to view a list of available values.
  4. Save the record.

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