Hello everyone!  I am a graduate student at San Francisco State Univ.
currently working on my Master's Thesis in Museum Studies.  The topic I
have chosen is Computerized Museum Collections Management and the
Internet.  My idea is to distribute a short questionnaire to a number of
museums to get an idea of how widespread computerized collections
management is and how museums feel about putting their collections on-line.
 
I would appreciate any feedback that museum-l people could give me about
my idea or the execution of the questionnaire.  Also, since people on
museum-l are most likely to be affiliated with museums already hooked up
to the Internet, please feel free to send completed questionnaires to my
e-mail address.  Please send responses, flames, or even best wishes to:
[log in to unmask]  Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
Here is a preliminary copy of the questionnaire.  The final version might
be different based on responses that I get from you and also on research
that I'm currently doing.
 
Name:
Title:
Museum:
Number of staff (employees and volunteers) working in your museum:
Approximate number of items in permanent collection:
 
1) Does your museum currently use computer equipment for collections
management?  If yes, what types of hardware and software do you use?  If
no, do you plan to upgrade to computers in the future?
 
2) Do you think that computer networking by museums for exchange of
information is a good idea?  Why or why not?
 
3) Are you worried about problems that might arise from the publication
of your collection information over a network (e.g., security issues or
increased competition in your particular field of collectin)?  What
issues most concern your museum?
 
4) Do you insist on certain precautions being in place before you r
collections are published to network access?  (For example, access given
only to qualified people, limited fields of the database available for
access, or time restrictions on the viewing of information.)
 
5) If not already in place, would you consider setting up Internet access
to your collections, or would you rather install a smaller private
bulletin board system?
 
6) Would you take advantage of the databases of other museums if they
were made available to you?  What interests you most about being able to
access the collections information of other museums?