| CIDOC NEWSLETTER
| Volume 9, August 1998
|
Collection management and the Internet: an Australia perspective
Timothy Hart
Abstract
Collection management as we have all understood it for the past hundred
years is undergoing fundamental changes as a result of the technological
advances in database design and the influence of the Internet. Systems and
standards vary considerably between institutions, different databases
containing unique fields of information can be found in every museum and
gallery in Australia. Even if two institutions use the same base system
software over time the extra inclusions and extensions added to tailor the
product to its specific users will have altered its structure to a
sufficient degree to render it 'non-standard'. The differences are caused
by many factors: subject areas, collection types, history, geography,
institutional commitment, resourcing, government policy and to some extent,
personalities. The major state collecting institutions all operate
sophisticated computerised collection management software, many of them now
using a second or third generation systems. The Internet has for the first
time provided a relatively inexpensive way for the museum and gallery
sectors to link their databases and allow access for a wide audience to the
full range of material contained in Australian collections.
A number of government and industry initiatives over the past twenty years
have lead to dialogue between institutions nationally and resulted in a
number of collection management focused national projects. The most
successful has been Australian Museums On Line (AMOL). This large
collaborative web based project started by a working party of the Heritage
Collections Committee (HCC) in 1995, has grown into one of the most
successful collaborative web based museum/gallery projects in the world.
The website has recently shared joint first place in the professional
division of the Museums and the Web 98 conference Best of the Web
Competition with the Getty Information Institute. AMOL now plays a
significant role in coordinating collection management activities across
Australia. The advent of the World Wide Web and its associated metadata and
interoperability requirements is presenting new challenges and potential
rewards for collection managers all over the world. Some of these
challenges are discussed in this brief look at collection management issues
in Australia in the "digital age".
Australia showing the states, territories, capital cities and some regional centres
Collection management
Major Australian museums and galleries operate sophisticated collection
management systems (Argus, Collection, Texpress, Titan, etc.). In contrast
to the larger state, commonwealth and regional institutions, smaller
regional and community museums and galleries have been slow to adopt
computerised collection management. The benefits are not as obvious for the
smaller institutions. Less than 18% of regional Australian museums and
galleries have a computer in their institution, and of that 18% less than
6% have Internet access [1]. Internet access is available through most public
libraries and schools. In contrast to these figures the general Australian
community has embraced the Internet with some 41% [2] of households now owning
a personal computer and of that number, over 35% [3] use the Internet more
than once a week.
The AMOL project has a responsibility to work in regional and remote
Australia where smaller institutions that don't have the resources or
desire to move to a more advanced form of collection management can be
assisted with digitisation projects. For these small regional museums,
galleries and heritage sites many of whom have no regular sources of
funding, moving to computerised collection management is a large step that
can seem very difficult to justify. Once the benefits of a simple
computerised system have been demonstrated, many quickly move to embrace
the opportunities the new technology offers. Through a regional grants
program AMOL is able to provide hardware, software and training to a number
of museums and galleries each year.
Database development
A number of small software companies have developed inexpensive ($500 -
$1,000) collection management software based on commercially available
databases: MS Access, Filemaker Pro and Inmagic have all been used for this
purpose. These systems can be of great benefit to a small gallery or museum
and allow many management functions to be centralised along with object
documentation. Institutions with more than 1.000 objects can benefit from
these systems. Once the object information is stored in an electronic form
many options now exist to allow that information to be presented on the
Internet.
The idea of open public access to collection information that is held in
institutions all over the world is one of the greatest challenges affecting
collection managers and cultural institutions today. Museums Australia [4]
actively supports a range of programs in each state and territory to
improve awareness in small community museums and galleries of the
importance of collection management and conservation. AMOL provides advice
on collection management software to its 945 directory participants and
actively encourages museums who have their collections in digital formto
become a part of the national distributed museum search which currently
contains 288,000 item level records from 37 institutions.
Public access to collections
There are numerous digitisation projects underway in Australia at present.
Objects both 2D & 3D, images, sounds, video and film are all being stored
in digital form. Conservation of film, video and sound recordings has been
a driving force behind the accelerated rate at which these objects are
being digitised. Object imaging is also occurring in most large
institutions and many smaller institutions. Once these objects are
digitised they can be used for many different purposes. The public can be
given access to objects that are never likely to be on open display.
Curators and exhibition designers can use digital images to visualise a
future exhibition without the cost of accessing the real objects,
conservators can record details of objects for latter comparison, condition
checking can now be accompanied by detailed photographs produced instantly
and cheaply. Virtual exhibitions can be assembled and presented over the
Internet allowing people who are in many cases unlikely to ever actually
visit a given museum or gallery the opportunity to see the reserve
collections normally held in storage. The days of collection management
systems providing extremely detailed information to a small group of
managers and curators is at an end. The big question now is how to enable a
collection management system to provide information in a form that is both
interesting and useable for the general public.
The ability to integrate these various multimedia files into the structure
of a collections management system must now be a priority when selecting
replacement systems or upgrading existing systems. The ability of a system
to deliver information to a wide audience including the general public,
education sector, internal user and professional industry is now a very
real consideration for system administrators and collection managers.
Management structure
The move to present collections on the Internet has in many cases presented
considerable challenges for senior management in the larger institutions.
The lines of demarcation and responsibility are becoming increasingly
blurred as once core "internal" systems are called upon to service new and
in many cases experimental external public programs. Many large
institutions are struggling to reorientate themselves to the demands of the
Internet. Traditional methods and approaches to presenting museum and
gallery collections are being challenged. Many see this as an exciting
challenge to be embraced, while others fear the change will threaten the
authority of the entire cultural sector. Companies like Corbis, a
subsidiary of Microsoft, have moved into the cultural arena and purchased
copyright to many hundreds of thousands of art works and objects from
around the world to sell through a variety of multimedia initiatives. These
companies do present a threat to the traditional suppliers of cultural
history and heritage information, galleries, museums and libraries. If we
are to compete we must make use of the cultural capital we already command,
strengthen our position and be careful not to undervalue the objects and
expertise within our institutions.
Metadata and Interoperability
The sharing of information between institutions at regional, state,
national, and international levels is now possible without a major
financial commitment. The Internet has provided the means, and in many
cases the tools to make this exchange of information possible. At the
recent WWW7 Conference held in Brisbane, the cultural track of the conference presented a number of speakers working with the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) on metadata standards to allow interoperability between
disparate networks distributed across the globe. Use of the Dublin Core
(DC) metadata set and the use of query protocol interfaces like Z39.50 have
made it possible to conduct wide area network searches on specific topics
which return meaningful information to individualusers. New developments
like the Resource Description Framework (RDF) [5] will aid this work by
allowing discrete industry groups to organise their information using there
own vocabularies and semantics. Libraries, museums and galleries have been
quick to see the potential benefits of this network and many projects are
now underway to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities now
available.
Searching and indexing
The rapid development of the Internet and subsequent move to utilise the
technology in corporate intranets has seen an explosion in the development
of software to enable communication between a variety of disparate systems
in the interest of information exchange and organisational efficiency. The
'search engines' (Altavista, Excite, Verity's Search97 etc) create indexes
of information held on servers throughout the world. CIMI (Computer
Interchange of Museum Information) is committed to bringing museum
information to the largest possible audience. CIMI comprises of
institutions and organisations that encourage an open standards-based
approach to the management and delivery of digital museum information.
Groups like CIMI are essential if museums and galleries are to keep apace
with developments in the wider information technology community. The
testbed projects coordinated by CIMI have allowed the industry to make
informed decisions before entering an emerging field of cutting edge
technology where risks are unavoidable and the potential rewards enormous.
The future of distributed searching and interoperability is currently being
mapped out by the W3C.
Conclusion
The next ten years will see tremendous changes in collection management not
only in Australia but all over the world. What is today an essential and
hidden resource for museums and galleries will gain in importance as
information becomes a more valued commodity. The communications revolution
still in its infancy will bring major changes to the way we all approach
and use information. Those in the cultural sector who recognise today the
potential of the Internet to connect and enrich the experiences we can
offer to our visitors (both real and virtual) will remain strong and
important in society. Those who do not prepare for the change will be left
behind and pay a heavy price as they attempt to rejoin the leaders who had
the vision and foresight to help shape the future.
Timothy Hart
Project Manager
Australian Museums On Line
Email: timh@amol.phm.gov.au
Notes:
[1] AMIS original survey 1996
[2] Pretzel Logic 1996 AGB McNair survey
[3] APT Strategies 1997 survey of 50,000 Australians 18 and over
[4] Museums Australia the industry professional association of Australian museums and galleries
[5] RDF is a general purpose framework that provides structured, human-readable and machine-understandable metadata for the web. It allows stakeholder communities (museums/galleries) to independently develop, maintain and reuse vocabularies.
