Attachments

In EMu the information about your collection is stored in various modules, each specific to the type of information recorded. For example, the Catalog module records details about the items in your collection; the Parties module stores information about people and organizations involved with your collection in any way.

Where records in different modules relate to each other, they are linked together through a simple process called Attachment (definitions of the Attachment terminology are available below). For example:

  • An item recorded in the Catalog module would attach to:
    • One or more records in the Parties module which specify the item collection manager and/or curator.
    • A record in the Accession Lots module which specifies the acquisition source and method for the item.
  • An Internal Movements record would attach to a record in the Locations module which specifies the details of a given location.
  • A Loans record would attach to a record in the Catalog module for the object on loan and to a record in the Parties module which specifies the party to whom the object is on loan.

An attachment field is a field in a module that can be linked to a related record in another module. It can be identified by the Attachment Attach and View Attachment View Attachments buttons beside it, e.g. the Borrower/Lender: (Loan Details) field:

Loans module

Note: The View Attachment View Attachments button is grayed out until an attachment is made.

As we see in How to make, view and delete attachments there are several methods you can use to attach records.

Graham Duffy's documentary, The Life of the Whale, is received by your institution. To record this information in EMu you would create two records:

  1. A record for the documentary itself in the Catalog module.
  2. A record for Graham Duffy in the Parties module.

You would then Attach (link) the two records to each other.

So, the three steps are:

  1. Create a record in the Catalog module recording details about the documentary, e.g. title, discipline, object type, etc.
  2. Create a record in the Parties module recording details about Graham Duffy, e.g. name, address, email address, date of birth, etc.
  3. In the Catalog module there is a group of fields called Creator Details and it is here that the Graham Duffy record in the Parties module is attachedto the documentary record in the Catalog module:

Even though the information is stored in two modules, you could now search for information about Graham Duffy and would find out which documentary he created, or you could search for the documentary and would also find information about Graham Duffy.

Let's say your institution now receives a copy of Graham Duffy's second documentary, The Mating Customs of the Whale. To record this in EMu you would:

  1. Create a new Catalog record for The Mating Customs of the Whale.
  2. Attach Graham Duffy's existing Parties record to the Catalog record for The Mating Customs of the Whale.

Thus, one advantage of the Attachment process is that Graham's biographical and address details only need to be entered into EMu once and can then be used as many times as necessary.

Information stored in one record can be attached to many other records.

For example, a single insurance policy can provide cover for many items in the Catalog. The insurance policy is entered into the Insurance module once and then attached to every item in the Catalog module covered by the policy. If the insurance policy details change, only the insurance record needs to be updated. The Catalog records automatically display the correct information.

It is possible to search for records using search data in an attached module. For instance you could search the Catalog module for items created by Graham Duffy.

See How do I search an attachment field? for details.

Term

Definition

Attachment

A link between a record in a module and a record in the same or another module.

For example, the Catalog module records details about a documentary. The Parties module records details about the creator of the documentary. The Creator Details group of fields in the Catalog module would be linked to the author's record in the Parties module.

Primary and Target module / record

In this example the Catalog module is the Primary module. The Parties module is the Target module.

Most modules can be both Primary and Target modules (simultaneously).

For instance, the Bibliography module is the Primary module when it makes a link to the Parties module; it is the Target module when a Catalog record links to one of its records.

Reverse Attachment

The term Reverse Attachment simply means tracing an attachment back from the Target to the Primary record. From a Primary record it is a simple matter to navigate to a record that it has linked to.

It is also possible to navigate from the Target record back to the record that linked to it.

In the example above an attachment is made from the Catalog module to the Parties module. The direction of the link is Primary to Target or Catalog to Parties. The link can be followed back from the Parties module to the Catalog module, that is the attachment can be navigated in reverse.