What I have found in my internships is that IT systems at museums fall mainly into four categories: administration, contact management, collection management and financial management. A fifth that is coming on fast is internet presence.
Admin would encompass the the general task of getting the museum staff connected to each other and the various operational system they would need to use each day and encompasses the basic setup and maintenance of networks, security, internet access and all the accompanying hardware. Most institutions with the resources to do so hire specialists to keep these systems running, or engage a pro on a contract or consulting basis to do so. Many museums probably do this using their own (non-IT) staff for one reason or another, but it seems to me a special set of skills that are best left to trained professionals since the services are critical to the proper functioning of the staff.
Contact management is the process of keeping track of museum membership, visitors, volunteers and donors. It is key to maintain a solid understanding of the institution's constituency, both to maintain attendance and encourage participation, financial or otherwise. This is usually conducted using a specialized system such as Past Perfect, but can also be home grown using standard commercial database tools-especially if there is an IT pro on the staff. There are many opinions about which is best. Canned applications are more expensive, but usually well-designed to perform all the necessary functions out of the box and have the advantage of large programming staffs supporting them. Home grown apps in this area are usually based on fairly limited technology like MS Access, are rarely well-documented and usually rest on the shoulders of a single person whose presence is necessary to maintain or modify the code.
At a high level, collections management is contact management for your artifacts, documents and images. There are quite a few commercial products for these needs as well. Past Perfect is quite common in this area, but there are others. Programming this type of application in house is probably much more challenging than the contact management piece because it incorporates quite a bit of knowledge unique to curators and conservators and can require interaction with outside databases, the internet etc. DIY is pretty hard and probably requires a very talented programmer(s) and a lot of money.
These systems are engineered for use by museum professionals, not technicians and are reasonably easy to understand and use by the layman who has limited IT knowledge and skills. I have not only used most of the functions in Past Perfect, but taught secretaries and volunteers to use them without undue strain.
Financial management systems track income and outflow of funds via standard accounting processes. Smaller institutions almost always use a product like Quick Books because it is comprehensive, fairly easy to learn and not too pricey. It is also well maintained and keeps in step with changes in accounting rules, tax laws and so forth. These systems require an understanding of accounting, but are designed as tools and don't require IT-specific training.
Finally, many institutions are now expanding their presence into the virtual world, especially through the use of the internet, specifically with web sites, but now including so-called social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace as well. There is a lot of flak around suggesting you can do these tasks easily and many job posting are asking for people who can develop and publish information on the internet. In my opinion, if you are thinking about any IT training, this is the best place to go. It seems more and more museums want you to come in the door with these skills while they are willing to train on the other systems they may use for internal operations.
On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 10:31 AM, Michele Sabol
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi,
I am a student in an MA program for museum studies. I am currently
doing an internship where my main responsibility is information
management and accountability using TMS.
I do not have an IT background. However, most of the professional
experience that I have includes data entry and info management using
various database systems. I have experience in medical records, and
payroll using both HR systems and payroll data systems, among others.
What type of positions if any in the museum field consist of manly
information management? Is it necessary to have an IT degree for these
types of positions?
I am concentrating in museum registration. However, I am struggling to
get experience in the object care side of the job. I am not even sure
that it is for me. However, I am a strong advocate about record
keeping and the importance it has to collections care.
If any one has any advice, it is much appreciated.
Sincerely,
Michele Sabol
Graduate Student, MA Museum Professions
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