Dear colleagues, The Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) is about to embark on another round of evaluations of collections management software for museums. As with past rounds, we are inviting interested museum professionals to join us in this adventure! If your museum is considering the purchase of such a system, then participating will offer you the chance to evaluate, in detail, some of the latest products to hit the marketplace. This could be part or all of your quest to find the right collections management system for your institution! This upcoming round of evaluations will lead to a new edition of the Collections Management Software Review (CMSR). The most extensive publication of its kind, the CMSR outlines the suitability of different software to particular museum disciplines, collection sizes, museum functions, and hardware and software environments. It also analyzes vendor reliability, support requirements, customization possibilities, costs and more. Over 160 museums in Canada, the U.S. and overseas have used the CMSR to guide them in selecting collections management systems, and many university have incorporated in into their museum studies programs. User comments include: "I have but one complaint. Had CHIN only published its Software Review sooner, we could have saved time, effort, expense and would have wound up with a more comprehensive result." - Rachel M. Allen, Chief, Research and Scholars Centre, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution "An invaluable tool...to allow museums to make informed decisions regarding a product or vendor." - Richard Gerrard, Toronto Historical Board In addition to personally evaluating the latest software packages, participating in this initiative will allow you to learn the ins and outs of choosing the best software for your needs and budget. You will draw from the expertise of colleagues from CHIN and other institutions, and receive a complimentary copy the new CMSR once published. The evaluations will take place between March 17 and June 13, 2003, at CHIN's offices in Gatineau, Quebec, and in conjunction with conferences in other North American cities. Participants involved in the evaluation will receive an honorarium of $300 per day. Please note that participating museums must be willing to cover their own expenses. |-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------| | Locations | Evaluation | | Conference | | | Dates | Coinciding | Dates | | | | Conferences | | |-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------| | Adams Mark | March 17-20, | Museums and the | March 19-22 | | Charlotte | 22, 24-25 | Web | | | Charlotte, North | | | | | Carolina | | | | |-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------| |CHIN Offices | April 7-11 | N/A | N/A | |Gatineau, Quebec | | | | |-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------| |Fairmont Winnipeg | May 2-3, 9-10 | Canadian Museum | May 6-10 | |Winnipeg, Manitoba | | Association (CMA) | | |-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------| |Convention Centre | May 15-17, | American | May 18-22 | |Portland, Oregon | 22-24 | Association of | | | | | Museums (AAM) | | |-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------| | CHIN Offices | June 9-13 | | N/A | | Gatineau, Quebec | | N/A | | |-------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------| Software demonstrations are expected to take one day per product. Evaluators will use a criteria checklist developed by CHIN and the museum community to score software functions, and also provide an overall evaluation of the software. For this upcoming round of evaluations, we are extending our invitation beyond Canada to museum professionals across North America. As registration is limited, we are asking that those interested in participating respond immediately to [log in to unmask] (please include your name, organization, city and province/state, email address and phone number). Your email commits neither you nor CHIN. Interested institutions will receive further details. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Jim Fox Manager, Skills Development 1-800-520-2446 [log in to unmask] http://www.chin.gc.ca Possible products to be evaluated: Product/Company ADLIB Museum-ADLIB Information System B.V. ARGUS CMS-Questor Systems, Inc. ARIIS 2000-ARIIS Image & Information Systems, Inc. ? Museum Networks Artfact-Artfact, Inc. ArtManager Online Curator/Express-ArtManger Online Services Artsystems Collections-Artsystems, Ltd. AskSam (askSam WIN)-AskSam Systems Brechin Imaging Services-The Brechin Group, Inc. CAITS-Fraser-Fort George Regional Museum C-A-T-S (Collection Archive Tracking System)-Noratek Solutions CLIO-Virtual Computing Services, Ltd. COLLECTION for Windows-Vernon Systems Ltd. Collections-MuseumTM -Collections Inc. DIBAM-Dibam Port Eloquent WebMuseum-Eloquent Systems, Inc. EmbARKTM-Gallery Systems, A Digital Arts & Sciences Company Gallery Express-DevWave Software, Inc. Heritage Sentinel-Sentinel Computer Consultants Inc. HyperMuséo-SOREIB-Renard Systems Ibase-Ibase INCA (Interactive Catalogues)-Hunterian Museum Inmagic DB-Triad Data Magic Pty, Ltd. INMAGIC Plus-Inmagic, Inc. Interfactive-Ucora Corparation IVY-IVY Network KE EMu-KE Software Inc. Maden File-Maden Teck MCMS-Westar Systems MCMS ? Lite-Westar Systems Micromusée-MOBYDOC, Brochu Robillard Culture et Technologies Inc. MINARET-Cactus Software, Inc. MIMS ? Museum Information Management System-Xwave Solutions ? Nova Scotia Museum Partnership MINISIS-International Development Research Centre, MINISIS Systems Group MIS (The Museum Inventory System)-Aden House Multi MIMSY-Willoughby Associates, Limited MuseumPlus-Zetcom ? MuseumPlus MUSIMS-System Simulation Ltd MUSIMS-System Simulation Ltd PastPerfect Museum Software-AltaMira Press Re:discovery-Re:discovery Software Inc. REGIS-Museum Research Associates SIRSI-SIRSI Limited SNAP! for Windows-Willoughby Associates, Limited STAR® /Museums Application-Cuadra Associates Inc. The Museum System-Gallery Systems, A Digital Arts & Sciences Company The Visual Archiver-Commonwealth Historic Resource Management, Ltd. Virtual CollectionsTM-Innes Collections Management Inc. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . 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