I've recently switched over our collection management system to Collective Access .60 (http://www.collectiveaccess.org). It's an open-source system and seems to be very customizable. This paired with a free web hosting service for non-profits such as Dreamhost.com (http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/Non-profit_Discount) could potentially mean a completely free collection management system that has both administrative and public interfaces.
Our public interface may be viewed here: http://art.gvsuartgallery.org
This is one of the first systems that I've seen that incorporates several Web 2.0 features, such as comments, tagging, and ranking. You can see a demo of the administrative sides of things at the Collective Access website.
I just wanted to share this for those of you searching for an affordable option in the world of collection management systems. Enjoy!
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