[Fsfe-uk] Museum Collection Management Software

[John Seago]

I have just returned from the GM of a Society of which I am a Member, we 
have both a museum and a Library collection. The Library might be lodged 
with another national library, however due to various constraints the 
Museum and its Collection have to stay in place and together. The Curator 
has been to a Museums Conference/Symposium/Exhibition and has seen the 
Vernon Collection Management Software for Museums which he feels might 
suit the Society's needs and wants for the future.  See: 
http://www.vernonsystems.com/

I volunteered to find out if there was some form of "Free" software which 
would fulfill the same functions. As it was described to me it seems to be 
a database which can be asked the where-abouts of any item from the 
collection, out on loan, in specialist conservation, in reserve, on 
display etc., etc., together with photographs of the item, accession number 
and details description, (up to 340 fields apparently). Would either MySQL 
or PostgreSQL do this? 

Can anyone suggest an alternative which will perform the same functions? 
Especially as the initial cost was over £2000 + license renewals etc., 
etc. there are also Linux advocacy opportunities here, as there could well 
be an opportunity to migrate the Curator's business operating system to 
Linux in order to accommodate any alternative to the Vernon software which 
as his office is voluntary runs on his business computer/laptop. The 
collection whilst of considerable interest to the members, would I think 
number in the hundreds rather than the thousands of items. 
-- 
John Seago 
GNU/Linux User #219566 http://counter.li.org
AFFS http://www.affs.org.uk/