TERMINOLOGY

[Martine Vermeire]

Hello Museum & Archives Working group adepts,

Perhaps it is also useful to inform you that a local Belgian meeting group "Museum & Archives" is gathering a few times a year and will accord some importance to terminology in the museum context. This group will try to define terms as documentation, archives, information, from the museum community point of view. It will for instance try to denominate the difference is between a register and a catalogue, define what is meant by the term 'scientific archives' .

The purpose is to obtain complete and clear definitions, to stimulate a better and more precise communication between the actors of the museum community, and between the museum community and the archives and library community. The need to determine these terms originated from the question what is meant by the term museum documentation -CIDOC's core business. Is it documentation in the strict sense of the word, or is this documentation also composed by archives, books, photographs, ...

In a beginning stage, we will make a word list, with terms and concepts that deserve to be specified. A terminology can be different from one language to another. So, communication with similar working groups abroad can be interesting.

We would be grateful to receive some input from you, in the form of relevant term (short)lists. Addresses of terminology specialists or interest groups in other countries and regions are most welcome.

We will keep you informed.