Canadian Heritage Information Network facts for kids
| Réseau canadien d'information sur le patrimoine | |
 |
|
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceding |
|
| Type | Special operating agency |
| Headquarters | 1030 Innes Road Ottawa, Ontario |
| Annual budget | $2.76 m CAD (2017-18) |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent department | Department of Canadian Heritage |
The Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) is a special group within the Canadian government. It helps connect Canada's museums and cultural places online. CHIN is based in Gatineau, Quebec. It works closely with the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI). Both are part of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
CHIN helps people find millions of museum records online. It also gives museums tools to manage their collections. This means CHIN helps museums keep track of their items. They also help museums share information about their collections. This makes sure everyone can easily find this information. All of CHIN's information is available in both English and French.
Contents
What CHIN Does
CHIN has three main jobs:
- It creates and keeps up an online place to find Canadian collections.
- It researches and develops tools for organizing collection information.
- It teaches cultural places how to manage their collection information.
CHIN was the first national group to join the Virtual Library museums pages (VLmp). This is an online directory of museums. Later, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) also supported it.
Artefacts Canada
CHIN also runs Artefacts Canada. This is a huge online list of museum collections. It lets you look at millions of records and pictures from Canadian museums. People who work with heritage, and even the public, use it. They use it to research Canadian cultural collections.
Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging
CHIN also manages an online database for a book called Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging. This book is a structured list of terms for objects. It helps museums organize and describe their collections. It was first published in 1978. The online version started in 2018. It is the most used system in North America for classifying museum items.
History of CHIN
Early Beginnings
The Canadian Heritage Information Network started in 1972. It was first called the National Inventory Programme. Its main goal was to create a large computer database. This database would help museums create computer lists of their collections.
Growing Online
In the 1990s, CHIN began to create a website. This website helped Canadian museums share their collections online. It made their items easier for people to find.
Nomenclature Goes Online
In the 2010s, CHIN worked with Rowman & Littlefield. They agreed to let CHIN create an online version of Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging. This online site was launched in 2018.
See also
- Virtual Museum of Canada
