UNDER the auspices of the Scientific Instrument Commission, the Museum has recently been involved with plans for an On-Line Register of Scientific Instruments, which aims to provide a single port of call for on-line searching for instruments in collections of all different sorts.
The Register is designed to be very limited in the information it provides. It records instruments’ existence rather than holding extensive catalogue details, acting as a gateway to further information, both on-line and off-line, via the physical and Internet address of the institution where the instrument is held. A limited set of browsable and searchable indexes to key information is available to enable instruments to be located, including a heading index, associated names and associated places index. There is considerable flexibility within these indexes and they are not ratified in any way: contributors are responsible for the amount and accuracy of the information supplied.
The project is still in a development phase, but anyone interested in the details of the scheme may consult the Register website, at www.isin.org