Ariana,

At the Freer-Sackler, the Education department uses regularly. Docents are trained and use TMS regularly to learn about the collection and prepare for tours. A large number of keywords for imagery, subject matter and use help the docents and others doing research locate content for related programs, and sometimes podcasts.

Since we archive exhibition label text in TMS, I use a single Crystal Report to create a PDF of each exhibition, grouped by thematic section with overall introduction & section text and the text for each object. This gets distributed to Education and our Public Affairs office, which provides copies to the press. The PDF is then linked as a media to the exhibition record. A little tricky sometimes, but it works. TMS 2010 should be a big help in getting this done.

We are planning on using the "public access" feature of object packages in an upcoming redesign of our online site. This functionality would serve multiple purposes, but primarily allow Education staff to put together content at their desks and publish it to the web.

From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of French, Ariana
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 1:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: TMS and education

Hello all,

In your organization, how does your TMS or IT group interact with your educational outreach group? Would love to hear any examples where educational initiatives were supported by TMS or they leveraged features within TMS to meet educational goals.

Many thanks,

Ariana

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