These can provide historical background, for example, or text related to groups of objects. They often serve to organize the exhibit. Object labels provide information, such as description or title, date or age, artist or user, material composition, and sometimes a brief text on a particular object. Also included here is the museum's catalog number or loan source, which provides a quick link to additional information if anyone should inquire. Different levels of information are usually placed on different lines.
Key labels are another form of object label.
Instead of a separate label adjacent to each object, a key label combines a group of object labels onto one label, identifying them, usually by number, with a corresponding number placed next to the object. Another type uses a drawing of the exhibit object as a key. These labels are used when individual labels would be too intrusive, as with a group of small objects in a case or when the objects are at a distance from the viewer. Key labels should be used only when necessary. Every object in an exhibit should have some identification, otherwise the object becomes no different than a prop.