Title/ Brief Description
This should be a text description of the object/item used for identification purposes. Ask yourself: could the item be identified from the description alone?
Catalogued material
The title or brief description for catalogued material is exported from the 245 field in Sierra.
The 246 field is also exported. In Sierra legacy catalogue records the inscribed title has at times been recorded here. Lettering from works has also been recorded in this field which may aid inventory colleagues in identifying catalogued prints where unique numbers have been omitted.
Exception: we may need to enter data into this field manually for items which don’t come through to Quickbase from Sierra. This may be the case in respect of linked items, or those with odd/incomplete locations on Sierra. We can simply copy and paste the information from the 245 filed in Sierra, to the Title/Brief description field in Quickbase.
You may also need to overwrite data in this field if diacritics have not exported correctly.
Uncatalogued material
We can provide a devised title or brief description for uncatalogued material, especially if no lettering is decipherable on the item.
In compliance with the recently reviewed cataloguing procedures (2022), the lettering on an item can be used in place of a description. (i.e. inscribed title)
We can use the lettering field should we want to record any additional inscriptions from the artwork or if you feel a separate description will help aid identification and feel the need to keep the lettering and description separate.
In both cases, please keep the description as short and simple as possible and try to avoid making assumptions or using potentially sensitive/offensive language.
For groups of objects we can include the number of items, written in letters. E.g. Twenty-five photographs of churches and European cities, including Notre Dame in Paris and St Peter’s Church in Rome. C. 1850.
If you really struggle to describe what you are looking at, you can also take a photograph and attach the jpeg. image to the record on QuickBase to aid identification. Under SPECTRUM, an item or group of objects should be represented by a title, brief description or image.
Use of Google lens to aid creating a title or brief description
Another tool that may help you provide a description (but should be used with caution) is Google lens. A search can often find a copy of the print/work you are looking at which can provide context, can name the sitter in the image, and even the title of the work in other catalogues. (i.e. British Museum)
If you use Google Lens to assist you with identification of uncatalogued material can you please record this in the 'Additional Notes/Queries' field on QB.
Controlled language:
Google Lens assisted creation of title/description/identification
Google Lens used/no matched result.
In the edit function for the 'Additional Notes/Queries' field - you can link the URL/source that aided your description. See INV.2024/4781 as an example.
Before utilising Google lens, please consider if the image is likely sensitive/offensive and consider more broadly our access and information policies. i.e. would this image fall under safeguarded access? Is an image already on wellcome.org or known to be in the public domain?
If Google lens does populate a result you consider to be a match, please consider the source/accuracy/authenticity - before accepting/rejecting the data.
Inscribed Title (Example)
An inscribed title is a title taken from an inscription, text or caption on the object or group of objects. In the examples given above, 'Smart Women Don't Smoke' and 'Transplanting of teeth' is the inscribed title. Instead of having to create a description, this caption alone is sufficient to be recorded in the Title/Brief Description field.
Descriptive title (Example)
As is common in inventory, many uncatalogued works you may encounter have no lettering, inscriptions or known given title that we can ascertain. In this instance we have to create a description or title, in order to be able to identify the item or group of items.
28357i has been given the following title/ brief description: 'Head of a boy in profile, used to illustrate phrenological classifications of mental pathology.' At inventory we may only be able to describe this item as 'Head of a boy in profile' and that would be sufficient too.
We will also encounter items that perhaps never were intended to have a title, they be items that were once functional. During inventory we may not have the context or items that relate to it in one place, so we have to approach the material in its own right. For this item the following description has been assigned: 'Smith & Beck stereoscope viewer and slides.'
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