Dear colleagues,
The Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) is about to embark on
another round of evaluations of collections management software for
museums. As with past rounds, we are inviting interested museum
professionals to join us in this adventure! If your museum is considering
the purchase of such a system, then participating will offer you the chance
to evaluate, in detail, some of the latest products to hit the marketplace.
This could be part or all of your quest to find the right collections
management system for your institution!
This upcoming round of evaluations will lead to a new edition of the
Collections Management Software Review (CMSR). The most extensive
publication of its kind, the CMSR outlines the suitability of different
software to particular museum disciplines, collection sizes, museum
functions, and hardware and software environments. It also analyzes vendor
reliability, support requirements, customization possibilities, costs and
more.
Over 160 museums in Canada, the U.S. and overseas have used the CMSR to
guide them in selecting collections management systems, and many university
have incorporated in into their museum studies programs. User comments
include:
"I have but one complaint. Had CHIN only published its Software Review
sooner, we could have saved time, effort, expense and would have wound
up with a more comprehensive result." - Rachel M. Allen, Chief,
Research and Scholars Centre, National Museum of American Art,
Smithsonian Institution
"An invaluable tool...to allow museums to make informed decisions
regarding a product or vendor." - Richard Gerrard, Toronto Historical
Board
In addition to personally evaluating the latest software packages,
participating in this initiative will allow you to learn the ins and outs
of choosing the best software for your needs and budget. You will draw from
the expertise of colleagues from CHIN and other institutions, and receive a
complimentary copy the new CMSR once published.
The evaluations will take place between March 17 and June 13, 2003, at
CHIN's offices in Gatineau, Quebec, and in conjunction with conferences in
other North American cities. Participants involved in the evaluation will
receive an honorarium of $300 per day. Please note that participating
museums must be willing to cover their own expenses.
|-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------|
| Locations | Evaluation | | Conference |
| | Dates | Coinciding | Dates |
| | | Conferences | |
|-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------|
| Adams Mark | March 17-20, | Museums and the | March 19-22 |
| Charlotte | 22, 24-25 | Web | |
| Charlotte, North | | | |
| Carolina | | | |
|-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------|
|CHIN Offices | April 7-11 | N/A | N/A |
|Gatineau, Quebec | | | |
|-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------|
|Fairmont Winnipeg | May 2-3, 9-10 | Canadian Museum | May 6-10 |
|Winnipeg, Manitoba | | Association (CMA) | |
|-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------|
|Convention Centre | May 15-17, | American | May 18-22 |
|Portland, Oregon | 22-24 | Association of | |
| | | Museums (AAM) | |
|-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------|
| CHIN Offices | June 9-13 | | N/A |
| Gatineau, Quebec | | N/A | |
|-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------|
Software demonstrations are expected to take one day per product.
Evaluators will use a criteria checklist developed by CHIN and the museum
community to score software functions, and also provide an overall
evaluation of the software.
For this upcoming round of evaluations, we are extending our invitation
beyond Canada to museum professionals across North America. As registration
is limited, we are asking that those interested in participating respond
immediately to [log in to unmask] (please include your name, organization,
city and province/state, email address and phone number). Your email
commits neither you nor CHIN. Interested institutions will receive further
details.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Jim Fox
Manager, Skills Development
1-800-520-2446
[log in to unmask]
http://www.chin.gc.ca
Possible products to be evaluated:
Product/Company
ADLIB Museum-ADLIB Information System B.V.
ARGUS CMS-Questor Systems, Inc.
ARIIS 2000-ARIIS Image & Information Systems, Inc. ? Museum Networks
Artfact-Artfact, Inc.
ArtManager Online Curator/Express-ArtManger Online Services
Artsystems Collections-Artsystems, Ltd.
AskSam (askSam WIN)-AskSam Systems
Brechin Imaging Services-The Brechin Group, Inc.
CAITS-Fraser-Fort George Regional Museum
C-A-T-S (Collection Archive Tracking System)-Noratek Solutions
CLIO-Virtual Computing Services, Ltd.
COLLECTION for Windows-Vernon Systems Ltd.
Collections-MuseumTM -Collections Inc.
DIBAM-Dibam Port
Eloquent WebMuseum-Eloquent Systems, Inc.
EmbARKTM-Gallery Systems, A Digital Arts & Sciences Company
Gallery Express-DevWave Software, Inc.
Heritage Sentinel-Sentinel Computer Consultants Inc.
HyperMuséo-SOREIB-Renard Systems
Ibase-Ibase
INCA (Interactive Catalogues)-Hunterian Museum
Inmagic DB-Triad Data Magic Pty, Ltd.
INMAGIC Plus-Inmagic, Inc.
Interfactive-Ucora Corparation
IVY-IVY Network
KE EMu-KE Software Inc.
Maden File-Maden Teck
MCMS-Westar Systems
MCMS ? Lite-Westar Systems
Micromusée-MOBYDOC, Brochu Robillard Culture et Technologies Inc.
MINARET-Cactus Software, Inc.
MIMS ? Museum Information Management System-Xwave Solutions ? Nova Scotia
Museum Partnership
MINISIS-International Development Research Centre, MINISIS Systems Group
MIS (The Museum Inventory System)-Aden House
Multi MIMSY-Willoughby Associates, Limited
MuseumPlus-Zetcom ? MuseumPlus
MUSIMS-System Simulation Ltd
MUSIMS-System Simulation Ltd
PastPerfect Museum Software-AltaMira Press
Re:discovery-Re:discovery Software Inc.
REGIS-Museum Research Associates
SIRSI-SIRSI Limited
SNAP! for Windows-Willoughby Associates, Limited
STAR® /Museums Application-Cuadra Associates Inc.
The Museum System-Gallery Systems, A Digital Arts & Sciences Company
The Visual Archiver-Commonwealth Historic Resource Management, Ltd.
Virtual CollectionsTM-Innes Collections Management Inc.
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