Re: [Fsfe-uk] Museum Collection Management Software

[Clive Menzies]

On (14/03/05 16:08), John Seago wrote:
> To: AFFS <address@hidden>, address@hidden
> Cc: 
> From: John Seago <address@hidden>
> Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:08:48 +0000
> Subject: [Fsfe-uk] Museum Collection Management  Software
> Reply-To: John Seago <address@hidden>
> 
> 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. 
Hi John

I'm no expert but either would suit.  We've used MySQL for database
driven websites and I've recently started playing with Postgres - very
powerful.  

However, what you need to bare in mind is that the Vernon
product is a database, structured specifically for museums and galleries.
No doubt there would need to be some configuration work to suit the
Society and an element of the Society adapting their processes to the
'off the shelf' package.

Someone is going to have to design and write the application for
MySQL/Postgres.  In the longer term, going down this route would provide
considerable benefits including: the ability to provide a web interface,
greater stability and lower running costs; initially though, the key
issue for them, I suspect, is the upfront cost.

Regards

Clive

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