Hi Stephen,
We at the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) launched our bar code project in 2004. We had just received a 750,000 matching grant from the NEH for a storage renovation project that required us to move, photograph, track and relocate 30,000 objects. We used the services of a consultant, Stephanie Lyon to help us develop a barcoding system. At that time we used Selago Design’s “MIMSY XG” collections management software, symbol scanners and MCL Toolset for the development. Also, the scanning application was custom as there was no off-the-shelf software to fit our needs.
Generally, we use the item accession number as the unique barcode ID. Locations are captured as a multi-level entry due to a MIMSY configuration constraint. Scanning is all done 'offline' and then uploaded to a server and imported into the database via custom interface.
Over time, we acquired Windows Mobile scanners with a SOCKET scanning attachment. Moving to Windows Mobile required porting our custom software to Visual Studio and .NET. Scanning is still done 'offline' and uploaded to a server.
In 2011, we migrated from MIMSY to TMS. Since we already had ~60,000 items barcoded and scanned into our MIMSY database, we chose to pass on the TMS Barcode module and stay with our custom setup. Of course, there are pros and cons. As part of the migration project, which took almost one year, we did not need to make any changes to our scanner client software, but the interface to the database was re-written for TMS. PERL was used to do the database/SQL part.
We are now about 2 years or so into using TMS. Another collection area has been renovated. Because the reno. changed several locations, we re-visited our decision to not use the unique location ID that TMS assigns. We decided to stay with our custom multi-level location mostly because we were deeply invested and resources are scarce.
Things on our radar: wireless and using phones with barcode recognition software. Our wireless network has been upgraded in 2014 such that it is now possible to real-time scan. Doing a real time connection to the database and using smart phones would reduce the cost per device and the complexity of the processing.
If you have any specific questions, I am sure Stephany Lyon who developed our system and has been our consultant since 2004 would be happy to answer them. I would also be happy to converse on the topic.
Polina Smutko
Pōlina Smutko, Director of Collections
Museum of International Folk Art
706 Camino Lejo
Santa Fe, NM 87505
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stephen Topfer
Sent: Friday, May 08, 2015 10:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: alternatives to the TMS barcode manager?
We are currently planning for a move of our entire collection and the commensurate reshuffling of objects as a result of a planned building renovation and construction.
To date we have not been using bar codes at all for location tracking but I expect this move will be a good reason to begin to do so.
Does anyone out there in TMS land have any experience using Third Party bar-coding systems with TMS? The sticker shock for the cost of implementation is encouraging us to consider all alternatives.
Thanks for any advice.
Stephen
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Stephen J. Topfer
Manager of Collections and Exhibits
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Tel: 250.384.4171 x292
Fax: 250.361.3995
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