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the Smithsonian. When the decision was made to build a museum support facility, the Office of Management and Budget prompted the Institution to study and report on its policies and programs of collections management. That report, which is available to the Regents on request, coupled with the impetus of the Secretary and support from the Congress, led to the planning and implementation of the Institution's first comprehensive physical inventory. This inventory will locate, identify, and record data about each of the estimated 75 million objects in the national collections. For all but a few large and complex collections the inventory is expected to be substantially completed by 1983, when a reconciliation between the computerized inventory and the Registrar's records (or the catalogs of the collection) can begin to ascertain that all items accessioned over the years have been located. Mr. Perrot noted that the cooperation from all who had been involved had been exemplary.

Mr. Leslie, Registrar of the Institution, described the process of capturing inventory data on the computer, and stated that the inventory is proceeding on schedule, with only a few large, problematical collections, such as Numismatics and Philately in the National Museum of History and Technology, lagging behind. The work has been performed primarily by new, temporary personnel, accompanied by existing professional staff who have accepted part-time or, in some cases, full-time responsibilities for the inventory. It was agreed that current technology provides the Institution with an opportunity to inventory which cannot be ignored or delayed.