[NHCOLL-L:2594] Re: Herbarium database

[Shirley S Albright]

Hi Raney,

Beyond the curatorial interest in database management, there may be 
other activities that can be folded into a particular software 
program.    You may want to access the CHIN (Canadian Heritage 
Information Network) site because it has a wealth of good information  
related to collection managment.    One of the things you may find 
helpful is something called Criteria Checklist (CHIN>Collection 
Management>Criteria Checklist) which enables you to peruse a list of 
significant issues in collection management, earmark the ones that are 
mandatory/would like to have/not important, tally them up and compare 
them against 16 of the most well known collection management software 
packages.   There are also reviews.

We are contemplating migrating our legacy data (currently on Argus) to 
KE EMu.   I've been working on this project since the Museums and the 
Web 2004 conference, and I can happily report that we know where we want 
to be....we just have to find the money! (Hah).    I know a lot about 
the high end software packages, less about the mid and low end, because 
they just don't satisfy our needs.    Regardless of what you decide to 
do, know where you want to be 5-10 and 15 years down the road because 
some vendors just don't keep up with the speed of technological 
advances....even in collection management.

It's not entirely impossible - depending upon your needs and 
availability to free expertise - to customize a FilePro database or some 
other relational database package.   But know what you're getting 
into!    If you go through the criteria checklist, you'll come away with 
a better understanding of what's out there as well as targeting specific 
needs of your own collection.

Good luck.   Feel free to contact me offline if I can help you in any 
other way.

Shirley Albright



Raney Morrison wrote:

> Hello-
> I've been asked by a botany professor at our local college about 
> database systems to manage a herbarium.  He is looking around to see 
> what is most commonly used, and is interested if there are any 
> "canned" programs out there, so he wouldn't have to make something 
> from scratch. 
> Specifically, the professor is interested in feed back on "Specify" 
> from the University of Kansas, File Maker Pro, and Paradox.  I was 
> also asked about a program called Keemu (or something like that), 
> which I've never heard of.  Any suggestions, comments, complaints, or 
> positive experiences are welcome.  You can reply to me directly and 
> I'll pass the information along.
> Thanks so much for your help.
> Raney Bench
> Collections Manager
> Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium
> St. Johnsbury, VT 05819
>  
>
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