Am receiving messages, and yes, would be interested in sharing ideas related
to data standards.

Susan Foster Garton
Data Administrator
Center for Electronic Research and Outreach Services
National Portrait Gallery
Tel:  (202) 275-1842
Fax:  (202) 275-1907
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>>> [log in to unmask] 03/18/03 09:37 AM >>>
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