Has anyone tried to use PastPerfect for Natural History collections yet?  I
ordered the demo to see if I could make our catalog fit using the optional
user-defined fields for the biological data but haven't had a chance to try
it yet and probably won't get a chance until September (field work calls).

Elizabeth



Dr. Elizabeth A. Moore, Collections Curator
Virginia Museum of Natural History
1001 Douglas Avenue
Martinsville, VA  24112
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----------
> From: Steve Erdmann <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: collections software; MS-ACCESS, etc.
> Date: Wednesday, July 01, 1998 5:11 PM
>
> Patricia McElyea (Curator of Collections from Arkansas State University
> Museum) wrote:
>
> >Early this year we switched from Argus to the new Past Perfect software
that is distributed by AASLH.  We have been delighted not only with its
features but also with its ease of use...
>
> While a constant "lurker" on this list I rarely post, but in this case:
> (OK..., long run on sentence here):  At the time of the ARGUS
> installation, I was the person who supervised the technical support end
> of this equation for the vendor involved and from "my" point of view
> Arkansas State University Museum greatly "over-bought" for their needs
> (were "over-sold" is a question of semantics I don't want to get into
> here).
>
> "Needs" go well beyond the number of objects which must be entered into
> the database or the speed of retrieval.  Staffing time and in-house
> expertise (or just plain computer literacy) must certainly be
> considered.  A system which may be nearly infinately configurable
> requires large amounts staffing time to implement.  "Bells and whistles"
> may be COOL, but will they be used and does the staff have time to use
> them.
>
> A few weeks back Janice Klein from the Field Museum said that they were
> using ACCESS (I think?) quite happily.  We're not even close to a
> plateau in the development curve of software/hardware innovation.
> Beyond serving current needs, probably the most important question that
> an institution needs to consider is the ease of convertablity of the
> data stored to the "next" system.
>
> Steve Erdmann
> (formerly Vice President and General Manager for Questor Systems, Inc.)
>
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