For some institutions, ARGUS would be a serviceable database without using the Lexicon at all. A very small museum or historic house with a limited number of object names, all from the same town or region, with limited artist/maker information might deal happily with only free text and term-controlled superfields. Many museums use a term-controlled field to indicate a classification or object type. Sometimes this is all you need to find what you want in a search.

Institutions with broader and deeper data will appreciate the search flexibility an organized Lexicon affords. Institutions contemplating a collaborative project combining their data with those of other institutions will appreciate the data control and discipline a well-organized Lexicon can impose.

If you search for a term and it has a related term, the system will suggest the related term for further searching. For a detailed discussion of term relationships, see Relations.