Museum software

[Mark Stowe]

>I am interested in finding some software that will run on the Macintosh that
>will aid me in managing my small (very small) teaching collections.  My
>preference would be something that is already configured for such a task (i.e.
>I'd rather not have to spend a lot of time programming).
>
>Thank....

I've been trawlinging the net for some time for sources of collection
management programs (but for me I need something powerful and relational
that I can modify extensively for my own complicated ecology/behavior
oriented collection).  I thought I would summarize my thoughts on this in a
taxacom missive a few months from now (when I have received documentation
for more programs) but maybe I'll send out my reply to this query now for
any who might find it useful.

There is precious little of this software for the Mac.  Most of it is DOS
stuff (which I suppose you could use with SoftPC emulating an IBM on your
Mac).

All of the software I know of:


DOS: MUSE, A RELATIONAL DATABASE RUNNING COLLECTION MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES
AT OVER 40 COLLECTIONS OF VERTEBRATES IN US MUSEUMS. JULIAN HUMPHRIES AT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
OTHER PC RELATIONAL DATABASES WIDELY USED IN COLLECTION MANAGEMENT INCLUDE
FOXPRO (MAMMALS, ETC. AT UNIV OF NEW MEXICO), PARADOX (CARNEGIE MUSEUM
- ALAN CAMPBELL, ALL DEPARTMENTS; LA COUNTY MUS.- KIRK FITZHUGH;
BISHOP MUS - MALACOLOGY, BOB COWIE), DBASE (UNIV ALABAMA, HERBARIUM,
ROBERT HAYNES);  dBASE application written by Barbara Thiers, called
HERBARIUM MANAGER.  It can be found in the FLORA ONLINE directory at
HUH.HARVARD.EDU's ftp server.

ALSO, VARIOUS UNIX-BASED SYSTEMS, THE MOST ADVANCED
OF WHICH IS SMASCH (HERBARIUM, U. CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, TOM DUNCAN
tdunc at buttercup.berkeley.edu.

One Mac (4D-based) system: custom bird curation program in use
 at the UW and University of Puget Sound (Gary Shugart SLATER at UPS.EDU).

The only specifically entomology-oriented program I know of is Bio-Quip's
flat-file (FilemakerPro) based Collection Manager.

So far I only have documentation for some of these programs but the only
program (I think) that is based on a powerful GUI windows-oriented
relational database is the Mac custom bird curation program.  But even the
author of that program has told me what every email correspondent who has
played with  Microsoft's new Windows database program Access has told me:
write your own in Access - you'll have a lot more power.  I love Macs and I
hate Microsoft but even I am so impressed by the program that I think I
will buy a PC just to use it.  The introductory price which you still can
get if you hurry and call a lot of places is $90.  The Windows environment
on the PC is pretty much Mac-like but they're still working the bugs out
(it's not entirely WYSIWYG yet) and if it crashes it's often a lot harder
to fix than a Mac (often requiring an understanding of DOS).  Another
possible Windows solution might be to get the Paradox collection management
program and use it with the new Windows version of Paradox (introductory
price: 140, I haven't seen the program so I can't compare it with Access or
anything else).  (If you haven't looked into it, it is now fairly easy to
share files between Macs and PC's).

The FoxPro program should run on a Mac, but I've heard the current Mac
version of FoxPro is a dog (an improved version is due at the end of the
year).  The Bioquip program has a Mac version I believe but it's flat-file
(not relational) and I don't know how adaptable it is to your needs.

I would recommend the Mac 4D-based program except that you need 4D which is
hideously expensive ($800 for the basic package which doesn't include the
compiler, networking capability and crash-fixing programs which are all
included in the $90 - regular $495 - price of Access).  4D (which I own and
know all too well) is a lot more approachable than it used to be but it's
still a lot harder to work with than it should be - I can't help but
express my opinion that Access is 4D done correctly.

Some very recent taxacom messages have made me aware that there is right
now a lot of planning for really powerful programs for collection
management (tied to geographic, taxonomic and ecological databases) - but
these are I would guess at least a year or two away.  Maybe we could use
some discussion on how these programs might evolve in a
hardware-independent way.  (More on this subject when I've had time to read
the recent ASC Draft Information Model for Biological Collections).  As
well as thinking about database stucture I think it would be helpful to
solicit ideas for program features.  (Anyone using the above mentioned
programs who can think of features of those programs that are particularly
handy and which might be unique to that program - send me a note and I'll
keep a compilation for anyone who might be interested).

Unfortunately, even for simple needs, database programs take more
understanding of database theory and thought about your problem than you
might suppose (ask me for references if you are interested).

Finally, let me thank all those folks who responded to my queries.  I never
know whether to thank everyone in this Internet brief communication setting
- just opening and reading and trashing mail does take time and must be
overwhelming to those who receive mountains of email (I know many who get >
50 messages a day).  Maybe the best thing is thank folks unless their reply
includes something like 'no acknowledgement necessary'.

Anyway, best of luck,

Mark
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Stowe c/o Jon Reiskind
Department of Zoology
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611 USA
E-mail: MKS at ZOO.UFL.EDU
phone: 904 373 3202, 904 392 1187
fax: 904 392 3704