[Nhcoll-l] Question

[Torgersen, John]

Hello,

Each of the collection management tools has it's strengths, and it 
depends on which features you want and how you will be using it.

For instance, for the University of Michigan's museums which are in the 
College of Literature, Science and Arts (LSA), we chose to use Specify, 
because it had the full set of collection management features that we 
were wanting (tracking of interactions like loans, accessions, gifts... 
as well as identifying the collection object storage areas, and their 
identifications over time, et cetera), and it has really good 
documentation and training videos.

 From an IT perspective, it's open-source, so we have access to the code 
(if we need it), and we run it on our own servers, which allows us to 
manage the release of updates and control the release of records via our 
own IPT server ( https://ipt.lsa.umich.edu/ ). This makes our records 
immediately available via GBIF, and harvestable via iDigBio, or any 
other data-consolidator.

Running Specify (the local client, 6, and the web version, 7) on our own 
servers allows us to integrate the databases into our University's 
single-sign-on security via LDAP (we haven't done it yet, but we could). 
Also, Specify uses a traditional relational-design structure for it's 
data tables, which makes it understandable to anyone who is familiar 
with a normalized data-structure. The Specify forms, reports and queries 
are all modifiable by the users, which enables quick results when 
needing changes. Lastly, the team at the Specify Consortium has been 
really great to work with... very responsive. In the interest of full 
disclosure, we like Specify so much that we joined the Consortium.

The Specify Consortium can also host Specify 7 databases on their 
servers, but we wanted to hold our data in our environment, then share 
it out with the world. They also have a way of sharing records out, an 
IPT equivalent, but I don't know much about that. I'm sure that their 
website, and support people, would be able to tell you about all of 
their features.

We currently have ten (10) collections using Specify (not all going out 
via the IPT), and we should have four (4) more by the end of the year; 
so, if you have any questions about our set-up please don't hesitate to ask.

To make your decision, though, you might consider which features are 
important to you (do you want to track loans, et cetera, in your 
database), what sort of resources you have available (do you have IT 
support and resources), then create a spreadsheet that compares how the 
various solutions fulfill your needs.

Yours,
John Torgersen
Database Administrator
UM LSA Technology Services Infrastructure

On 3/13/2019 11:28 AM, Alejandro Catalá Jimenez wrote:
>
>
>   What is the best collection management software for collections in
>   natural history museums?
>
> I´m working at the Natural History Museum of Santiago de Cuba and I´m 
> looking for the best fee collection management software for both 
> zoological and botanical collections. We want no just have our 
> collection properly organize but also make it visible through the 
> world. I´ve been hearing about Specify, Symbiota and Biota and I´m not 
> sure which one is the most efficient or if there is any other who can 
> be better.
> Thanks!!
>
> -- 
> *Alejandro Catalá Jimenez*
> Licenciado en Biología
> Centro Oriental de Ecosistemas y Biodiversidad (BIOECO)
> Departamento de Biología y Geografía. Universidad de Oriente (Cuba)
> ResearchGate:
> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alejandro_Catala_Jimenez
> Academia:
> https://uo.academia.edu/AlejandroCatal%C3%A1Jimenez
> Linkedin:
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandro-catal%C3%A1-jimenez-97232a122/
> Mendeley:
> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alejandro_Catala_Jimenez
>
> /Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your 
> life/
>
>
> /
>
> Confucius
>
> /
>
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