Hello Marnette & Cindy

                I spent some time researching new collections management software earlier this year at a different institution. We were using Virtual Collections but it has reached the end of its life span. PastPerfect is a favourite of mine but it’s built on an unsupported database software. The creators have been saying for about a decade that they will update the underlying software but every year they have a different story. While PastPerfect works now it could technically break at any time with a Windows update. For that reason I decided against it. Every institution is different but my final decision was CollectiveAccess. It’s open source, well developed, and has a great, thriving support community. It is even able to import databases from other programs will minimal work. The software has been adopted by the Association of Nova Scotia Museums, the Museums Association of Saskatchewan, and I’m sure more as the software of choice for their member institutions. I’d give it a serious look.

William Shepherd
Collections Officer
Swift Current Museum
44 Robert Street West
Swift Current, Saskatchewan
S9H 4M9
Phone: 306-778-4815
Fax: 306-778-4818

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Heritage Hall Archives
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2015 12:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Collections Management Software question!

I'm wondering what wisdom you folks have about collections management software for a local history museum with an archive library. The museum has been using PastPerfect 4.0 for several years now but we are at a point where we need to upgrade and get serious about our efforts! (First year of 3 part-time paid staffers!) We would like to tie in the library holdings and add photos, etc. etc. so have the necessary PastPerfect upgrades picked out, with a hefty price tag of about $1500. As we are a small non-profit museum, we are wondering if there are open source options out there that are wireless-network friendly and can do what we have come to expect from PastPerfect. Has anyone made that jump and have wisdom to share?? Thank-you!

Marnette D. Hofer, archivist
Heritage Hall Museum & Archives
Freeman, South Dakota

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