I daresay there will be a chorus of horror at the idea of throwing away
original paper records, and that therefore my voice will be just one of
many. However, I do think it is worth saying: "DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!"

In fact that felt so good I'm very tempted to say it again.

I am hoping that the people making this inane suggestion are software
people rather than curatorial people. If they are the former then
perhaps it's understandable, if not exactly forgivable, since software
people in general have very little understanding of what museum
documentation is all about. If it's curatorial people then you're in
deep trouble...

There are plenty of sources of good information on the Web about
collections software and related documentation issues. A search with
Alta Vista for keywords will probably get you a few pages of very useful
hits. You could do worse than trying the UK's Museums Documentation
Association's website at http://www.mda.org.uk/index_r.htm. Another
potentially useful site is Leonard Wills'
http://www.willpower.demon.co.uk/index.htm. These should get you
started.

Mick

PS Liked the typo in the subject line. Interesting idea.

Michael P. Cooper
Registrar, Nottingham Museums & Galleries
[log in to unmask]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Veronica B|rger [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 1999 1:35 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Sotware for museums
>
> Hi,
>
>     I work in a museum that's beginning to introduce a software to
> handle it's collection this year. The guys in charge of this activity
> think that the old records of collection, which are on paper, should
> be
> thrown away, and from now on we should rely on the database of the new
> system.
>     I'm afraid that this could cause some inconveniences in the
> future.
> Did somebody else in this list experience this kind of situation ?
>
>     Is there some texts talking about the use of software systems to
> handle a museum's collection in the net, or in some magazine or book ?
>
>     Thanks for any information ....
>
>     Bye,
>     Armando