Thanks for starting this conversation, David - it's definitely an interesting topic that's been rattling around my head for some time now.

I agree with Allison's suggestions about cataloguing staff because it points to a bigger concept that many museums (using a central, digital collections management system) haven't yet embraced as fundamental to their operations: the concept that a museum manages two collections. There's the collection that goes on the walls, out on loan, in the sculpture garden - and there's the collection that lives in files, online, in TMS, and so on.

It sounds like a no-brainer to say that, but once you compare how each of the two collections are regarded, staffed, and funded, the differences can be instructive (and perhaps startling). I think most have moved beyond the notion that our collections management systems (including online representations) are simply a dry index of our physical collections, but this isn't always reflected in our staffing practices or our institutional cultures.

Anyway, I'll try to stop my rambling and put my opinions in a nutshell: An online collection of museum object data is a *collection*, and therefore deserves appropriate, specialized care, just as our physical collections receive.

Best wishes -

Ariana

--
Ariana French
Database Administrator
Yale University Art Gallery
phone: (203) 432-7914
[log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Aylsworth, David
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 12:13 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Data Standards Manager

Thanks to both of you for responding so intelligently.  It could be that
I'm feeling overwhelmed by the challenge of both getting TMS more and
more functional as well as trying to define the standards at the same
time, but I still see there being justification for both positions.

Someone sent me this article from the Getty that got my juices flowing
that such an extravagance could be justified...

http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Jun-04/coburn_baca.html

But then again, I could be deluding myself... It seems like I go through
this every year about this time.... until the budgets come out and I see
what got scratched off of my list!

But, thanks again.
David

David Aylsworth
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Registrar for Collections
telephone:  713-639-7824
fax:  713-639-7780

-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Chad Petrovay
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 7:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Data Standards Manager

I'm the Collections Database Administrator, so I oversee the
functionality of TMS, and am involved with almost every project that
takes advantage of the data in the database. One of my first tasks was
to create standards for the data, and while I do agree with David that
the task is pretty front end - it's never quite done.

Example: We created a very thorough geography labeling system. Places
that no longer exist like Ur would be labeled as 'Ur (in present-day
Iraq)' while modern locales would be 'Paris, France'. The labels are
generated by the computer when being exported to the web, and take
advantage of the city, country, region, locus field. I thought I had my
ground covered, but there are a hundred exceptions. Each exception
requires a revision of the standards.

Secondly, new standards are being adopted all the time. If you aligned
your standards to CCO and CDWAlite, what happens when museumDat is
revealed? This requires monitoring developments in the field, as well as
alterations to TMS's data structure during upgrades. So, downtime yes,
but someone still needs to do the monitoring.

Finally, there is monitoring the data within TMS for quality control. We
have a lot of curators, fellows, etc, who have access to TMS because
they are working on advancing the research and academic knowledge of our
collection. They are not always as conscious of the standards as they
should be, and so we monitor their alterations to make sure that they
comply with our standards, make necessary alterations, and when,
necessitated, "interventions."

At the end of the day, that's a lot to do, but as I am responsible for
the data that is in TMS, and how it is extracted, I am happy to have
that oversight of both the database and the standards. But I wouldn't be
able to do it without dedicated support staff.

My two cents. ~Chad


-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users on behalf of David Armstrong
Sent: Tue 4/29/2008 6:51 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Data Standards Manager



The question that initially comes to my mind is, "What will the Data
Standards Manager do after the standards are developed and put in
place?"  It seems like the data standards manager position is simply an
initial job responsibility for the TMS administrator.  For what it's
worth, my title is Database Administrator and I'm in charge of all the
databases at my institution.  I spent the first year getting TMS in
shape and it is pretty well sorted out.  Now I'm working on integrating
it with a Digital Asset Management System.  I'm also working on setting
up a new ticketing system that will integrate with our current
membership system.

It has been my experience that although getting TMS setup and running
right takes a lot of effort at first, once you have it setup it pretty
much runs itself.  The hard work is developing the standards, developing
the reports and developing the training materials so that the users are
comfortable using it.  Once you've done that it just like any other
application.



________________________________

From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Aylsworth, David
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 3:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Data Standards Manager



I am very interested in hearing from any institutions that have a Data
Standards Manager as part of their staff.  I'm trying to push through
getting BOTH a TMS Administrator as well as a Data Standards Manager.
Admittedly they would work together very closely, but I've begun
thinking that it is justifiable to have a separate person who can hash
out the standards for our institution and see that they come into line
with other institutions, letting the TMS Administrator focus on the
functionality of the system.



Am I dreaming too big or too small?  How does such a person start?  How
much of a Nazi do they need to be?  Any advice or comments would be
appreciated...



Thanks,

David



David Aylsworth
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Registrar for Collections
telephone:  713-639-7824
fax:  713-639-7780