About computerizing collections:
I suppose it is no reason to make a decision on whether or not to computerize a
collection catalogue (or other records) but does anyone else out there get a
little thrill (I believe frisson is the word current on Museum-L) when he or she
sees a label or catalogue entry written in the very hand of one of your former
staff members celebrated in song and fable?
And some people think museums have no soul!
Gordon Murdock
Bell Museum of Natural History
and Museum Studies Minor Program
University of Minnesota
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In message <[log in to unmask]> Museum
discussion list writes:
> We have begun to computerize our museum catalog data for the vertebrate
> collections. Several people have suggested to me that in the future we
> should do away with the written catalog, and just catalog new specimens
> by entering data directly into the computer. Later we can print up a hard
> copy from the database. The main advantage of this method would be in
> saving time. My instincts tell me that this is a bad idea. It would be
> difficult to track name/ID changes; if data labels are hard to read,
> sometimes it is easier to copy data by hand than into a computer;
> handwritten records can also serve as historical records of a sort, etc.,
> etc. Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter?
>
> Rosanne Humphrey
> Assistant Curator of Zoology
> University of Colorado Museum
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