Here here.  A database is not unlike a child or a pet.  Though it may someday
need to be changed and you seldom have to walk it, it needs similar
consideration and care in other respects.

At three of the last four museums I've worked at, I've not only had my "job
description" to fufil, but I also had to keep up backups as well as perform
routine maintenance.  As a result, I start back ups and other routine
maintenance tasks at the end of my day and worry until I get home whether the
tape cartridge was a good one or whether a power failure will wash it all
away. There is no one one to monitor these procedures.  (I stop worrying
sometime after dinner.)

Any computer system, large or small, is only as good as the human element
taking care of it, as well as contributing data to it.  If you don't have the
personel to conduct regular maintenance and backups, are you willing to to
print everything on a regular basis and re-enter it?

As to old numbers, I say leave them as they are, but take them into
consideration if you change your current numbering system.  If that number is
on the object, it should be on the computer.

Ruth Bryant Power
Registration Assistant
Brandywine River Museum

I promise, I'll quit now.