Julian Ravest wrote a long testimonial about the virtues of using
MS-Access for collections management. While Access is a good and
powerful program (I use it and like it myself for small,
uncomplicated applications), I can't recommend that anyone try to
program their own collections management software.

<snip>

> I should also say that to fully exploit the power of Access you will
> need professional programming assistance - however you can get a long
> way without it.

Ah - the bottom line. I will add that you will also need to fully
document however you program your home-grown database so that the
next poor person who tries to figure out what you did will have a few
hairs left at the end of the process, with any luck. Non-programmers
(and non-disciplined programmers) tend to program databases in a
"thrashing" sort of way. That is, they thrash around trying to get
something to work until it does work and then they forgot how they
got there and forget to clean up all of the garbage they left in
their wake. The next person to use the database is wading through
trash trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. It's very
frustrating.

This method of software "development" is like trying to build a
house without blueprints, plumbbobs, or the right size of nails. When
you hear references to "software architecture", it's because
commercial software programs are carefully designed and crafted, just
like a building.

Don't jump into programming your own database lightly.
That's why God made off-the-shelf collection management software.

If you insist on programming your own:  1) make a careful design and
have several people review it, 2) call upon people who have done this
before to review your design, 3) document, document, document.

Don't fall prey to the "we can't afford it" argument. By the time you
buy the software and pay someone's salary to program a usable
database, you could have afforded the least expensive of the
commercially available collection management software packages.




Karen W. Anderson, IS Mgr:  [log in to unmask]
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
WTAMU Box 967 Canyon, TX USA (806) 656-2967
http://www.wtamu.edu/museum/