PastPerfect vs Collective Access

[intern]

Hello all!

I work for a public art commission, and we'd like to implement a
formal collections management system for our ~ 700 object collection.
I'm trying to determine whether open source platforms really are the
way collections management is headed, or if I should stick with
something more traditional like PastPerfect. Has anyone used both
types of systems? I'm wondering if an open source platform like
Collective Access can really be implemented without the help of a
developer. I'd appreciate any information you can share with me on
this!

BTW - I did see the discussion on open source software on here, but it
didn't really answer my questions.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Perian Sully]

Hiya:

There are currently two open source collection management systems in development - Collective Access and CollectionSpace. The last time I looked (a couple of months ago), Collective Access wasn't yet at a stable version release (e.g. still in beta). CollectionSpace just released version 1.3 and are a little further along than Collective Access. I am pretty optimistic of both of these products.

I've yet to talk to anyone who's implemented CollectionSpace (beyond the project partners, that is), but I'm currently looking into installing it or running a hosted version for another project I'm working on here. Looking at the installation instructions, it seems pretty straightforward: http://wiki.collectionspace.org/display/collectionspace/Installation+Guide

I also use PastPerfect here in Balboa Park. Admittedly, I'm not a fan, since I have a difficult time getting data in and out of the system. But for smaller collections that just need to be managed and organized, and don't have a need for public access, for the price, it can't be beat.

In the case of the open source CIS, you'll need a server. I think PastPerfect can be installed locally without need of a server (but then you're wedded to that one computer).

Hope this helps,

~Perian

Perian Sully
Project Manager: Digital Asset Management & Online Access
Balboa Park Online Collaborative
http://www.emphatic.org
http://www.musematic.net
http://www.mediaandtechnology.org
Twitter: @p_sully

[kll]

Like Perian, I dislike PastPerfect - more every time I use it. While
I'm not sure Collective Access or CollectionSpace are ready enough for
us to switch from PastPerfect, if I were starting fresh, I can
honestly say I'd start with CollectiveAccess. I can tell you that it's
simple to install (I've played around with it a bit), although it does
need to run on a server. For 700 items, that should be pretty doable.
If you're a small organization (i.e., you don't have a server and a
whole crew of techies), you should be able to install and run it on
shared hosting (the install I've played with is on my former
institution's Dreamhost account (they offer free hosting to 501(c)3
orgs)). While CollectiveAccess isn't out of beta, I think it's safe
enough that you can start using it. As with anything, you should of
course maintain good, reliable backups.
(I am skeptical whether a non-developer would be able to install/
manage CollectionSpace, and whether shared hosting would be
sufficient. I'm not sure it's very small-org friendly.)
~Kaia

Kaia Landon
Director
Brigham City Museum-Gallery and Box Elder Museum

[intern]

Thanks so much for your responses! This is helpful information. One
thing I forgot to include in my initial post is that we recently
created a new website using Drupal (and a developer). We have a
collections section on the site and I'm wondering if our best bet
would be to work with Drupal to expand the collections module into
something larger that can be used as our CMS. Does anyone have
thoughts on this? I have no idea if the idea is even realistic.

Thanks again!

[Perian Sully]

Oooh! I'm so glad you asked this!

One of my special projects is a Drupal module that takes XML exports from EmbARK and PastPerfect and converts them into Drupal pages. It's got about 2-3 more months to bake, I think, but we'll be releasing the module open source, so if you do end up with PastPerfect, this will be one solution to getting collections online.

BUT, if you did want to use Drupal for simple cataloging (not collection management - you'd spend about as much in development costs as buying a major CIS package), you could do that easily enough by setting up the fields you want and entering your data into there. But it wouldn't be particularly easy to restrict users' access to certain fields (if you were thinking of using the same node as both the public face of the collections online record and as your catalog). Look into the Views module and see if there are some additional securities features. One of my Drupal architects here says it can be done, but it would be very difficult to do.

Hope this helps,

~Perian

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[seth]

In case you don't already know about it, there is a Drupal module that
provides for integration of CollectiveAccess-hosted data. You can find
it at http://drupal.org/project/collectiveaccess

It is developed by a Belgian Drupal shop and has been used for several
projects over there including http://www.waaserfgoed.be and a
collections search for the Vlaamse Kunstcollectie that goes live soon,
I think.

We didn't develop it (I'm one of the developers of CollectiveAccess),
but we're seriously considering rolling it into the core software
distribution in the next few months.


Best,

Seth Kaufman
Whirl-i-Gig