Standards and Local Practice: The Experience of the Victoria and Albert Museum

Alan Seal

Museums need to identify the benefits which will result from adopting standards (whether for computer systems, databases, or imagebanks) and then which standards to use. This is not easy when there are official and de facto standards as well as proprietary standards, when alternative standards cover the same area, and benefits may take several years to realise. Although museums should use established standards if at all possible, it is important that these are seen as a means to an end and museums should concentrate on the data itself and its long term use rather than on systems technologies.