In a message dated 3/4/99 11:33:45 AM, [log in to unmask] (Armando) writes:

>I work in a museum that's beginning to introduce a software to
>handle it's collection this year. The guys in charge of this activity
>think that the old records of collection, which are on paper, should be
>thrown away, and from now on we should rely on the database of the new
>system.
>    I'm afraid that this could cause some inconveniences in the future.


There is no substitute for hard copy. Ask the software guys if they're able to
access any records from the 70's, for example. Operating systems come and go,
turning over faster every decade. We can read hieroglyphics and cuneiform,
which are word-based systems written on payrus and clay. Inca quipu messages,
a digital system, are lost to us, even though the strings are preserved. Old
records should be archived, and new records should be printed out and join
them. Don't give up.

David Formanek
Cyrus E. Dallin Art Museum
Arlington, MA 02476