Since we're on the topic of collections software and numbering systems,
here's an interesting thought.  I just read an article in Newsweek on the
Y2K or Year 2000 bug that's worrying computer programmers in
banking, utilities and government.  This is the problem:  when the date
turns from 1999 to 2000, how will a computer know that your electric bill
isn't 100 years overdue?  Programmers have traditionally used only the
last two digits to distinguish a year, and must now spend obscene
amounts of money to go back make it possible for the computers to
recognize that 00 comes after 99 and is only 1 year later rather than 99.

Most (in fact, I think all) of the museums I've worked in have also used
only the last 2 digits of a year when accessioning (as in 97.1.1).   If most
museums have entered their accession/catalog numbers into their
computer systems as simply 97.1, what happens in the year 2000?  How
does one get the database to recognize that 01.1 is a later accession
than 99.1 and sort it appropriately?

Kind of makes me glad that we haven't chosen our computer software
yet, but it's something we will have to consider when we are setting up
our system.  Are there programs out there that do take care of this
problem (such as pre-formatted museum software like Snap, etc.), or will
we all have to add "19" in front of the "99', and "20" to our "01"?

Just wondering. . . .

Chris.

Christine Mouw
Assistant Curator
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum
West Branch, Iowa  52358
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