Hi, I feel your pain. I'm a trained collections manager and have worked on survey and inventory projects from National Parks collections to those for tiny historical societies, so have some practical thoughts about what you're working on. Generally for a collection that size, I'd recommend doing a survey before inventory, but if you are already started here are some thoughts about doing an inventory.
First thing, get familiar with your software. If you have PastPerfect 4, there is a function for doing inventory. Get the manual out/ off the internet and read how to use this feature. Make sure the most recent updates to the software have been put on your computer (they're free if you already have the software).
Next, are your collections on or off-site? Is there WiFi capability wherever they are? If so, try using a remote connection program so you can access the computer PP4 is on from your tablet when you are in your collections area. I have used a free single user version of Team Viewer very successfully for this, but there are also other free and inexpensive versions that are easy for non-tech people to get going.
If no WiFi, print off the inventory list from PP4 and use it as a checklist as you go through each "unit" in your collections area. Make a second piece of paper your spreadsheet for adding things that aren't already listed in PP4. If you find something listed, make a note if the location needs to be updated. If you find something that isn't, write a brief description (accession or catalog # if written on it; five word verbal if not), and write the location. Use the PP4 location format so it's easy to add the info into the database when you are at the computer (Building-Room-Unit-Shelf-Drawer-Container). On a daily or weekly basis, update the location information for physical unit you've just completed into PP4 so you don't risk losing your work.
You'll probably find that somethings are difficult to write locations for beyond Building-Room. If it's a pile of stuff, put it in a box and give the box a unique number starting at a very high number if you don't know how many boxes already have numbers ("Box 500"). It is way easier to change or eliminate box numbers later on than accession or catalog numbers. It does not matter at this point what order the boxes are in on the shelves; trying to put them in order as you go will only distract from the task at hand. Be very disciplined about not going down any tangents beyond putting items in a box and giving the box a #. If something isn't catalogged, don't do it now. Note the location under the accession record's "notes" section. If something isn't even accession, give it the same accession number. I'd recommend staying away from accession numbers that start with letters or have a weird format because it will screw up searches in your database. Just start every first accession for a new year as the FIC accession for weird stuff you run across that year. So the FIC for 2015 would be 2015.1 and the FIC file for 2016 would be 2016.1. Don't add placeholder numbers (i.e. 2015.001 or 2016.001) because it is NOT a decimal number in the sense that is a fraction of a larger number. This would cause problems if you had a giant accession of something like photos and negatives from one source, or scientific material in a lot (such as insect or fish eggs) where an accession is very large.
Too big of an answer for a forum, shoot me a message if you need/ want more.
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Lissa Kramer
Museum Manager, Log House Museum
Southwest Seattle Historical Society
Seattle WA
Original Message:
Sent: 10-22-2015 01:57 PM
From: Brandon Young
Subject: Collection Inventory
Thanks for the idea, I hadn't thought of using Access. Right now we are using PastPerfect 4, which can be a bit difficult but we're making it work!
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Brandon Young MLS
Museum Assistant II
The Sherman Museum
Sherman TX