Several museums of the Smithsonian, including the National Portrait Gallery, use eMuseum.  It is administered by our central office of information management.  Their staff does have expertise in SQL databases and SQL servers.  They set up the servers and maintain them. They also work closely with eMuseum support at Gallery Systems.  The National Portrait Gallery did contract with Gallery Systems to customize our eMuseum implementation since we did not have that kind of expertise in our unit.


Linda Thrift, CEROS Administrator
Center for Electronic Research and Outreach Services
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
PO Box 37012
Victor Building Suite 4100, MRC 973
Washington DC 20013-7012
Tel 202-633-8247
Fax 202-633-8254
Email [log in to unmask]
url www.npg.si.edu




-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Danyelle Fletcher
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 9:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: eMuseum and Database Admin.

A quick poll...
I'm curious to know if you have eMuseum, how large is your museum if you do 
have it, who manages TMS and eMuseum in your museum and what kind of 
educational backgrounds do those database administrators have?

The reason I ask is that my museum (which isn't large) has eMuseum and 
we've had a lot of problems with it.  Our IT people have no educational 
background in computer programming and are not at all familiar with SQL.  I 
think it's fair to say that the whole process (from the installation to the 
running and maintaining of eMuseum) has been confusing and difficult for them 
(this isn't to degrade or to insult them....just stating a fact).  We're a state 
government agency museum, so any creation of new jobs and any hiring of 
new people involves a lot of justification and red tape.  It would be helpful to 
hear thoughts from other museums on this topic....

So, for the people who have actually installed and currently maintain eMuseum 
for their museums, what are your thoughts on the qualifications necessary to 
install, maintain and troubleshoot eMuseum and TMS?  I also want to state 
that I'm just a registrar whose educational background is only history based.  
And although I don't consider myself completely technologically challenged, 
this is definitely not something I'm well versed in.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and feel free to contact me off list.

Danyelle Fletcher
Registrar
Old State House Museum
Little Rock, AR
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