I've posted this before so apologies for chiming in again. Our historical society museum of mixed artifacts (probably 10,000 items by the time we get done) uses the Frostbow Collection Manager 3 software. It is licensed but it costs $25. You can change all the data field names to fit your needs, and you can even contact the developer (as we recently did) to request a tweak, and he made the change. Just an idea. Check it out:

http://www.frostbow.com/products/collection_manager.shtml

We may move to PastPerfect some day, but this was a great solution for now. It has everything we need. Good luck!

--Kathie Gow

Curator, Hatfield Historical Museum

[log in to unmask]

hatfieldhistory.weebly.com

Kathie Gow

Curator, Hatfield Historical Museum http://hatfieldhistory.weebly.com

Oral History Producer http://www.wordspicturesstories.com

On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 1:06 PM, Amanda Robinson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello,

I was wondering if anybody here has used/has had good experience with open source collections management software. I am currently looking into utilizing software such as Collective Access to create a more navigable and accessible database for a moderately sized art collection of about 4,000 objects.

Does anybody have any experience with this or similar programs? I am currently vacillating between this and the more expensive route for PastPerfect. Any insight into the pros and cons of open source vs. licensed software would be immensely helpful.

Amanda

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).