The Museum Computer Network submitted a questionnaire to the list recently. We would be happy to share the questionnaire and the results with you. Kathy Jones-Garmil On Tue, 6 Sep 1994, Monique Volansky wrote: > Hello everyone! I am a graduate student at San Francisco State Univ. > currently working on my Master's Thesis in Museum Studies. The topic I > have chosen is Computerized Museum Collections Management and the > Internet. My idea is to distribute a short questionnaire to a number of > museums to get an idea of how widespread computerized collections > management is and how museums feel about putting their collections on-line. > > I would appreciate any feedback that museum-l people could give me about > my idea or the execution of the questionnaire. Also, since people on > museum-l are most likely to be affiliated with museums already hooked up > to the Internet, please feel free to send completed questionnaires to my > e-mail address. Please send responses, flames, or even best wishes to: > [log in to unmask] Any help will be greatly appreciated. > > Here is a preliminary copy of the questionnaire. The final version might > be different based on responses that I get from you and also on research > that I'm currently doing. > > Name: > Title: > Museum: > Number of staff (employees and volunteers) working in your museum: > Approximate number of items in permanent collection: > > 1) Does your museum currently use computer equipment for collections > management? If yes, what types of hardware and software do you use? If > no, do you plan to upgrade to computers in the future? > > 2) Do you think that computer networking by museums for exchange of > information is a good idea? Why or why not? > > 3) Are you worried about problems that might arise from the publication > of your collection information over a network (e.g., security issues or > increased competition in your particular field of collectin)? What > issues most concern your museum? > > 4) Do you insist on certain precautions being in place before you r > collections are published to network access? (For example, access given > only to qualified people, limited fields of the database available for > access, or time restrictions on the viewing of information.) > > 5) If not already in place, would you consider setting up Internet access > to your collections, or would you rather install a smaller private > bulletin board system? > > 6) Would you take advantage of the databases of other museums if they > were made available to you? What interests you most about being able to > access the collections information of other museums? >