The current literature that attempts to describe the Index is confusing. The Provenance of Paintings Database uses information from the Public Collections Database to arrive at provenance and collection history. It would seem that provenance collection information should be coming from the inventories and Sales Catalogues Databases as well. The present working methodology involves the director visiting the sixteen participating sites and other depositories to review the holding of a specific country at a specific time period. These documents include sales catalogues, archival records, and museum object files.
Visits involve compilations and photocopying of information based on annotated copies.
The photocopies are then divided up and sent to participating sites for inputting. The sites are used as a source for inputting labor only. The decision of what material is input rests solely with the project director. The policies and distribution of documentation and inputting needs to be reviewed. However, it is not realistic to think that libraries, with their down-sizing, can consider this level of analysis for sales catalogs.