I appreciate the current efforts of standardization thesaurus
     catagories but I keep wondering when someone such as national
     organizations etc are going to begin postulating standarization
     of computer programs for like material or even all materials.
     As a small museum, I am not interested in searching through the
     thousands of software programs currently available, many of which
     will be out of business before I get one up and running nor am
     I interested in becoming a computer nerd and trying to or have
     tailored new software.  As the museum world moves to the
     electronic age, if small-medium museums with their staff of
     generalists want to be included in efforts to browse their
     restricted catalogues etc. registrars, collections managers or
     whatever title the institution wants to hang on its personnel
     need an easy STANDARD software program to begin the data
     consolidation process.
     I think that the 6 museum collaboration that I saw at the Burke
     Museum in Seattle was a good example whereby even the visitors
     had access to limited listings from those museums. Visitors were
     answering their own questions and curiosity thus saving staff
     time and interruptions.
     What is the feeling of the list members on this?
     Carole DeFord
     Collections Manager