Box Number (Location)

Imported data in QB was taken from the ‘BoxNumber’ field in CALM. There is now however, a dedicated 'Location' field in CALM, so locations may appear in both fields.

Regardless of the field label in CALM in reference to locations, we want this field in QB to represent an item's current location in real-time.

Please note that locations in CALM and the archive table in QB may exist in the former and current location authority. Whilst the ‘Box Number’ may record the location as ‘S19.10R’, it is possible that its equivalent location in the new authority also exists in the ‘Location’ field in CALM. S19.10R might concurrently be recorded as 183;4.39;FR;19;10;R as in the screengrab below.

PPRSI/B/1/1/5/25 screengrab

The Collection Inventory Assistants have undertaken a lot of work to update authorities in CALM ready for when these will be fully in use as well as to populate 'location' fields (irrespective of new/old authorities).

For some items in CALM a location is only populated in the 'location' field. (I.e. it might not have a box/box number)

Some item records refer to an outsize box in the 'BoxNumber' field. These numbers form a separate sequence, starting at 1 e.g. O/S 1 and will then have the location of the box recorded in 'Location.'

Locations in the archive table, like the artworks table are linked to the location table in Quickbase.

If you are creating data/entries for material i.e. to acknowledge accessioned, uncatalogued material you can select the location from the table. If the location does not exist, you need to create this in the location table before you can select it in the archive table.

Tip: The location table will give a snapshot of material in a given location, signposting what table the data sits in.

Updating locations in CALM

Catalogued material

If you come across a catalogued item which needs to have its location updated in CALM, you can search for the item in the 'Catalogue Menu' on either its Ref_No or PublicRef.

As, with visual material in Sierra, you will need to create/populate the record with a former location and then update the location field.

To insert a former location:

1. Click on 'Field'

2. Click on 'Insert'

3. Search/select the field name 'Former_Location'.

4. Populate the field with where the item was/should have been.

5. Update the Location/BoxNumber* fields as appropriate, with the real-time location of the object.

*Only update the box number field if it is a location i.e. S19.10R (and not an outsize box number)

Accessioned, but uncatalogued material

If you need to update/check a location for an accessioned but uncatalogued item or collection – you can look this up in the CALM accession menu.

For example, a ‘Pledge card’ that we found in the small racking store noted on its label Acc2218, there was no other reference to suggest it was catalogued.

CALM accession record

1. Open CALM, click on archives menu, then accessions menu, then search.

2. Search 'Acc_No' using the accession number to bring up the relevant accessions record.

3. If you prefer to see all accessions for a particular collection, then search it's collection level reference on 'RefNo' and navigate to the relevant accession record.

The accession number may reference an entire collection or a single item.

For Acc2218 you will see that this relates to the Scope archive (Note the Ref_No and PublicRef) SASCO and SA/SCO

For a collection on a single accession number you might notice multiple extents and locations that match up in the accession record i.e. Extent 2/Location 2, Extent3/Location 3 etc. This is to support location management, as an accession may not be housed in a single storage area.

The item we found in the store (part of Acc2218) is represented on the accession record as Extent 4/Location4 which was where the item was found.

If the record did not reflect the real-time location, we would need to update the accession record.

If there are existing extents/matching locations and you need to create a new extent and or location, instead of 'insert' you will need to 'append' a field (Location/Extent) to prevent disrupting the existing order.

In an accession record you cannot insert a 'Former_Location' field, instead you can record in the Acquisition_Notes field: Location previously recorded as [former location]

You will also note that the accession record also refers to a box list in the collections file under ‘FindingAids’. This means that the item/its location is also recorded in the box lists and needs to be checked/updated.

Box lists can be found in the Collection files on sharepoint.

Select: Collections Management > Collection Files > Archives > You can then use the ‘Search this Library’ function to look up the accession number.

For our example, there is a folder for Acc 2218 which contains: SASCO_Acc2218_BoxList.xlsx

Line 31 of the box list references the extraction number recorded in ‘Other number’ in QB, alongside the temporary number it was assigned when this was first audited in the artworks table. The current location is accurate and is recorded in both the accession menu and the box list.

Rule: Once an item is catalogued the catalogue record not the accession record is the source of truth for locations. You only need to update the location in the accession menu/box list for uncatalogued archives.