Record Details
Search and View
Index Projects “Search and View” mode displays your catalog just like the Examples and Featured Catalogs shown in the Gallery section of this website. Depending on the setting you choose for the display of your catalog, “Search and View” mode will display just the name and primary image of all records (Thumbnails view) or the name, primary image, and other text information in the record (Standard view).
Search and View mode provides two methods to find particular records in the catalog. Both methods make use of the same search entry box below the catalog description:
Text Search: You can search for text that may appear in the title, description, or any other field in an object record. You just enter the text in the search box and the system displays all the object records that contain that text.
Tags: You can search for predefined tags you have applied to records. You select a tag from the drop-down list and click “Search”. The system displays all the object records that have the tag. See the heading “Tags” below to learn more.
Edit Records
You will enter information about the whole catalog as well as information about all the individual objects represented in the catalog. Index Projects allows you to edit (revise or delete) records at any time after the initial entry.
Catalog Description
The page listing all the records in your catalog has three entries that describe the catalog as a whole:
• Catalog Name: The entry in this field will appear at the top of the page.
• Catalog Description: The entry in this field will appear under the Catalog Name at the top of the page. This field has basic text-editing functions similar to those found in Microsoft Word.
• Footer Content: The entry in this field will appear in the band at the bottom of the page. The entry will appear between “© 20xx” and “Catalog database by Index Projects”.
• Default Item View: Select either “Thumbnails” or “Standard”. “Thumbnails” will show all the objects in abbreviated form with only the Object Name, a small version of the image, and a link to the full record. “Standard” will show the all information about the object on the Search and View page.
Objects
When you subscribe to Index Projects, you select a record format. One format is for catalogs of many works by a single artist. The other is for a collection of many artists’ works. Both allow you to enter text, images, video links, and tags to create a comprehensive description of each work in the catalog.
All the text fields are defined under the headings “Artist Catalog Fields” and “Art Collection Catalog Fields”, below. Since all text fields are “free form”, you decide the best way to record information in the field. Caution! Give some thought to this decision before entering more records than you would care to revise if you change your mind about how to describe medium or dimensions, or any other aspect of a work of art. You can find extensive guidance on cataloging works of art on “The Getty” website. Look for “categories for the description of works of art” http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/cdwa/
Regardless of your initial approach to making a record, you can go back and change any entry at any time. If you leave a field blank, the field title will not appear in the finished record. This means that you should not enter “not applicable” or “none” in any field. Just leave it blank. You can always go back and enter more information later.
There are two methods to find particular records in your catalog. Since all fields are indexed, a text search will quickly return all the records with that particular text appearing in any field. You can also create tags for records. Tags serve as pre-defined search criteria. You can apply any number of tags to any record in the catalog. See guidance for use of tags under the heading “Tags”, below.
Artist Catalog Fields:
• Object Name: The name of the work. You may edit/change this name at any time because it is not the unique identifier of the record.
• Description: A field for information about the subject of the work or an artist’s statement. This field has basic text-editing functions similar to those found in Microsoft Word.
• Medium: The materials and/or techniques used to create the work.
• Dimensions: The physical dimensions of the work are usually expressed as length, width, height, diameter, etc.
• Location: The current location of the work. This field could be used to designate a museum collection, corporate collection, loan location, or other notation about its location. This field will be displayed in an open catalog (see description of Disposition field, below).
• Date Produced: The date the work was produced. Typically expressed as month and year or just year.
• Exhibitions: The names and dates of exhibitions that included the work. This would also include any prizes won in exhibitions.
• Disposition: A field to record information relating to current ownership, sale price, loan arrangements, and other information of a confidential nature. This field is not available for anyone but you to see. Even if your catalog security is set to allow anyone to view the catalog, this field will not be displayed except when you log in with your credentials.
Art Collection Catalog Fields:
• Artist: A field to record the name of the artist (or artists) who created the work.
• Medium: The materials and/or techniques used to create the work.
• Dimensions: The physical dimensions of the work are usually expressed as length, width, height, diameter, etc.
• Appraised Value: Value of the work at the most recent appraisal. Regardless of the security settings for the catalog, this field will only be available for viewing by the catalog owner.
• Appraisal Year: Year of most recent appraisal. Regardless of the security settings for the catalog, this field will only be available for viewing by the catalog owner.
• Acquisition Year: Year work was acquired.
• Condition: Current condition of work.
• Donor: Name of the donor of work.
• Provenance: (from the French provenir, "to come from") Information about the origin and/or ownership of a work of art that can serve as a guide to its authenticity or quality.
• Location: The current location of the work.
• Inventory Dates: Date of the last inventory that noted location and condition of the work. Regardless of the security settings for the catalog, this field will only be available for viewing by the catalog owner.
• Notes: A field for recording information about the artist and/or context of the work such as artist statements, prizes, exhibitions, etc. This field has basic text-editing functions similar to those found in Microsoft Word.
Images
Regardless of your record format, you can enter one or more images of each work. Images may be added or deleted at any time. You can define the order in which images appear in the record and enter captions for each image. The system also allows you to designate the image that will be displayed on the Search and View page of the whole catalog.
PDF's
You can add as many PDF files to a record as you may need to provide a comprehensive description of the object. For example, provenance might be demonstrated by a particular document. Or perhaps the object was included in an important exhibit and the exhibit catalog is available.
Videos
You can enter a link to a YouTube video. Index Projects displays the first frame of the video with the “play” icon as one of the images in the record.
Tags
“Tags” are categories you define for displaying certain records. Index Projects lets you decide how objects in your catalog can be displayed to the best effect. One-word tags or very brief, commonly understood phrases work best. For example:
• If you are an artist, dealer, or collector, you can set up tags “Sold”, “For Sale”, and “Not for Sale”. Someone viewing your catalog may then select a tag to see all the works in any of these three categories.
• If you have a collection with several works by each of several artists, you can make a tag for each artist’s last name.
• You may be entering the day, month, and year in the Date Produced field, but it may be helpful to also have a tag for a whole year or a decade so that several objects produced over a period of time can be displayed together.
• Tags that apply to various types of work regardless of medium or form such as “Abstract”, “Figurative”, and “Surrealistic” can be useful ways to display certain works.
• Subject tags may be important: “Landscape”, “Seascape”, “Farm”, “City”, “Countryside”, etc.
You can add, change, or delete tags at any time. There is no limit to the number of tags that you apply to a single record. Even though Index Projects does not limit your use of tags, it is a good idea to think about the best use of this function to avoid having lots of tags that are redundant or overlapping.
