Hi Dave,

I have been receiving all listserv messages just fine. The idea to share
info on the issues you mentioned is a great one. We would be interested in
an exchange on data standards, managing data entry projects, style sheets,
thesauri, collections information system mission statements and TMS
functionality, etc. We still use our paper files, and as far I am aware
there is not really any movement away from them. However, we use TMS as our
primary source for collections info. Registration, Curatorial, and IT
departments have been working together to establish standards for TMS use.
We hold nearly monthly meetings, and have created an intranet site with a
reference manual for data entry standards. So, we are really just getting
started, and some of this has fallen off recently due to staff changes, but
we are eager to continue moving ahead in our efforts at expanding the way we
use TMS for collection information management.

Also, recently we have begun a project to create digital images of
collection objects to be available in TMS and on the Seattle Art Museum
website. As we go along we are developing standards for the Media Management
Module, for which we plan to create some sort of manual.

A question I am currently wondering about is how are others managing
copyright information both in the data entry view of the objects module
front card under registration, and in the media management section? We would
like to have complete copyright status info in TMS for each of the objects
in our collection, which will be a "special" project all on its own. Just
curious about how others are working that out at their institutions.

I look forward to learning more about what others are doing.

Best,

Scott Nacke
Assistant Registrar/Image Rights Manager
Seattle Art Museum
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-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Pearce [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 6:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Test and a question


Hi Everyone,

Hopefully you all received the listserv email from Mignon Erixon-Stanford
about the recent move of the TMSUSERS listserv to a new server with slightly
different domain address. According to Mignon the transition was to have
been seemless and we would have noticed nothing.  But a few of you have
written to me recently about the lack of activity on the list and wondered
if there was some technical problem or if things had just been quiet. So if
you're receiving this message, let us hear from you.

Also, my supervisor and mentor Bruce Young (Head of Collections Management
at the Freer and Sackler for many years) and I have been talking recently
about data standards.  Here at our museum I have recently formed our first
Collections Information System Data Content Committee made up from
Collections Management and Curatorial advisors. This is a major step for us
as our administration and the curators have joined us in support of tasking
the data base to serve as the primary and authoritative source for
collections information instead of our long venerated paper records and
published comprehensive catalogs. The questions that will have to be
answered and procedures that will have to implement to accomplish this are
too numerous to mention here at once.

Are any other of you doing something similar? And if you're already well
into the process would you have any wisdom you could share?  I have
considered the idea of sending out an email on a very focused issue once
every two weeks. Would you all be interested in discussing and sharing your
ideas on topics such as retiring paper files, managing massive data entry
projects, style sheets, thesauri, collections information system mission
statements and TMS functionality in relation to your goals, etc.?

Looking forward to hearing from everyone.

Best as always,

Dave