Subject: FW: April / May 2008 PastPerfect Newsletter Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 10:55:30 -0500 Message-ID: <B46BC0C8F6373F43B0A84089442FE921014D9767@MEWMAD1P0129.enterprise.wistate.us> From: "Seymour, Janet I - WHS" <Janet.Seymour@wisconsinhistory.org>
List Serve Members,
For those of you who use Past Perfect museum software, or for those who
would like to learn more about it, their spring newsletter is included
below.
You'll notice that Past Perfect is offering training in Eau Claire, Oct
7-9. The classes will be held at the Chippewa Valley Museum, and the
training is being co-hosted by the Wisconsin and Minnesota Historical
Societies.
You can find out more at this website:
http://www.museumsoftware.com/training.htm. The registration brochure is
not available online yet, but will be soon. Save the dates now if you're
interested, and be sure to sign up early, as there is high demand for
these classes.
You may also contact me directly if you have questions about the
classes: classes: janet.seymour@wisconsinhistory.org.
Janet
Janet Seymour
Field Services Representative - Northern Region
Wisconsin Historical Society
To subscribe to the local history list serve, send an email to:
localhistory-request@listserve.uwec.edu and type subscribe in the body
of the email. (Not the subject line!) To unsubscribe, type unsubscribe
in the body of the email.
Review past messages at: http://listserve.uwec.edu/localhistory
<http://listserve.uwec.edu/localhistory> .
________________________________
April/May 2008 Newsletter
________________________________
1. Spotlight your institution on www.MuseumSoftware.com!
Thanks to you, the demand for PastPerfect Software continues to grow. As
we approach 6500 customers, our Client List grows too. This helpful
resource from our website gives you the opportunity to take a look at
other PastPerfect users from around the world. It is a way to network
with PastPerfect customers with similar collections or museums in your
area. To help you learn more about users, we provide links to
participating clients' websites.
By providing a link to your organization's website, Virtual Exhibit,
and/or PastPerfect-Online site, we can help promote your institution to
the nearly half million visitors to our website.
To add your organization's website to the Client List, please send your
organization name, website address, Virtual Exhibit home page, and/or
PastPerfect-Online site in an e-mail to PastPerfect-Online site in an e-mail to clientlist@museumsoftware.com.
To see who else is using PastPerfect, please visit the Client List & Map
under the Resources section of our website
http://www.museumsoftware.com/client_list.htm.
________________________________
2. Upcoming Training Opportunities for PastPerfect 4.0
Training for 2008 is under way! Currently scheduled training locations
and dates are listed below.
Waco, TX - June 24-26
Hosted by the Texas Sports Hall of Fame & Museum
Chestnut Hill, MA - July 15-17
Hosted by the Longyear Museum
City of Industry, CA - August 5-7
Hosted by the Workman & Temple Family Homestead Museum
Exton, PA - August 19-21
Hosted by PastPerfect Software, Inc.
Kennesaw, GA - September 23-25
Hosted by the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History
Eau Claire, WI - October 7-9
Hosted jointly by the Minnesota Historical Society and the Wisconsin
Historical Society
For more information about scheduled training classes please visit our
website at http://www.museumsoftware.com/training.htm or contact our
Training Coordinator, Jennessa Reed, by e-mail at
training@museumsoftware.com or by phone at 800-562-6080.
________________________________
3. PastPerfect Featured User: Guelph Museums, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Special thanks to Kathleen Wall, Assistant Curator, for contributing
this month's article!
Guelph Museums consists of two sites in the city of Guelph, Ontario,
Canada, which is about one hour west of Toronto. Guelph Civic Museum
focuses on the history of the city, which was founded in 1827, and is
housed in a heritage designated limestone building. Highlights of the
collection include a great representation of early Guelph merchant
crocks, a collection of designer textiles, and an extensive photograph
and postcard collection of Guelph-related images.
The second site is McCrae House, the birthplace of doctor, poet and
soldier John McCrae who wrote the poem, "In Flanders Fields". This
museum is designated as a National Historic Site and displays artifacts,
photographs and archives pertaining to John McCrae, his family, and WWI.
Guelph Museums switched to PastPerfect in 2004 and have been converts
ever since. The biggest draw for us was having a simple program that we
could train volunteers and temporary staff to use, but was still very
powerful in searching and cataloguing. One of the best features for us
is the MultiMedia/Digital Imaging Upgrade, which allows us to have
images attached to our records. Because of this capability, we have
jumped head first into digitizing our collection and are about one third
of the way through.
Many museums in Ontario have switched to PastPerfect over the last few
years so we set up a User's Group to share information. We meet twice a
year to pass on tricks and tips and to share some of the forms and
reports that each site has created.
Guelph Museums receives about 20,000 visitors each year and we offer
over 20 special events a year including our Poppy Push Plant Sale and
our Robbie Burns Day. We also have several changing exhibits each year
and a Children's Gallery that looks at Guelph's past through the eyes of
a child. For more information on our museum, please check out our
website www.guelph.ca/museum
________________________________
4. Free Updates for PastPerfect Museum Software
Did you know updates are available from our website for your PastPerfect
Museum Software versions 3.5 and 4.0? These free updates are released
approximately every two months and are available for download by going
to www.museumsoftware.com/software_updates.htm.
If you would rather receive a free update CD, please contact our Support
Office toll free at 800-562-6080 or by e-mail at
support@museumsoftware.com.
PastPerfect Version 3.5 - Current Service Update Available: 3.5C2
While there are no new features in the version 3.5C2 update, there are
service updates that have been requested by 3.5 users.
PastPerfect Version 4 - New Update Available: 4.0D8
New features available in PastPerfect 4.0D8 include:
Option in Objects catalog to sort and instant find by place of origin
+ command to expand notes field on accession screen
Add year 2008 to Contacts dues and donations tracking
Add dear formal and dear casual to Dues table for reporting
Automatically create data backup when updating program
Before reindexing, check for other users and display a list of users
currently in the program
Easy access to System Info screen by clicking Version# on main menu
Expanded System Information screen
Improved data backup functions for images and multimedia
Limit image subfolders to 600MB
New Backup Reminder screen that alerts if backup has not been made in
last 3 days
New command button on Library screen to list, enter or view additional
sites associated with the record
Option to Find by record# in Accessions and Contacts
Option to make backups from backup reminder screen
Save 30 hard drive backups
Upon Exit remind users to make an external backup every week
Upon Exit of program require users to make a backup at least every two
weeks
________________________________
5. PastPerfect-Online Featured Site!
The April/May featured site is:
Camden Area History Center - Camden, ME
http://camdenarea.pastperfect-online.com/
<http://camdenarea.pastperfect-online.com/35542cgi/mweb.exe?request=ks>
Sharing your collection over the internet has never been easier! More
collections research is being done from the comfort of home than ever
before. To help cater to this trend, PastPerfect Software, Inc. created
PastPerfect-Online.
PastPerfect-Online is secure: PastPerfect-Online uploads a copy of the
records, images and fields that you select into a searchable online
database; confidential or sensitive information can remain private and
under your control. To keep your images secure, PastPerfect-Online
contains a watermarking tool that can watermark all of the images that
you place online without affecting your permanent images.
PastPerfect-Online is searchable: PastPerfect-Online makes researching
your institution's collections easier for visitors by enabling keyword
and customizable advanced searches. Visitors can also research your
collections with PastPerfect-Online's Click and Search feature.
Additionally, if a visitor desires to view the essence of your
collection they can use the Random Images Search, which will display
thumbnail images at random from all of your uploaded catalog records.
PastPerfect-Online is easy to use: In addition to being safe and fully
searchable, PastPerfect-Online is easy to use and update, since no web
design or programming expertise is necessary! Once you select the
records that you wish to appear online, the Web Publishing Wizard helps
create the fields and implement the options for your site. Just create
and upload the files and our support technicians take care of the rest!
With PastPerfect-Online, you can also add your museum's logo and design
elements that compliment your existing website.
Throughout the year we will be featuring PastPerfect-Online sites on our
website at http://www.museumsoftware.com/client_list.htm.
To view additional PastPerfect-Online sites, please visit
www.PastPerfect-Online.com <http://www.pastperfect-online.com/> .
If you would like additional information about PastPerfect-Online,
please visit our website at http://www.museumsoftware.com/pponline.htm,
download the information sheet from
http://www.museumsoftware.com/downloads.htm, e-mail our sales staff at
sales@museumsoftware.com or contact us at 800/562-6080, toll free.
________________________________
6. Tech Tip: How Do I Sort PastPerfect Records by Object ID Number or
Accession Number without Leading 0's?
1. From the Main Menu, choose Setup.
2. Next, select Gen. Information.
3. In the middle column, find the Objectid# sort field.
4. Choose the Numeric setting rather than Alpha.
5. Also enter the separator used in your accession and object ID
numbers. It might be a period or dash or other punctuation. (For
example, if object ID numbers appear as 2007.1.1, the separator is a
period.)
6. Exit from General Information.
7. If everyone has closed out of PastPerfect and a backup has been
created, click Reindex on the Main Menu. On the Reindex screen, make
sure "Rebuild Catalogs" is checked, in addition to the other default
selections.
8. Click "Start Reindex Now". When the reindex finished, Exit from the
Reindex screen.
9. Select either Accession or one of your Catalogs (Objects, Photos,
Archives and Library).
10. In the upper right of the screen, find the "Sort by" button.
11. In the Accession catalog, choose the "Accessn(num)" to sort
numerically by Accession#.
12. In the Objects, Photos, Archives, or Library catalogs, choose
"Objectid(num)" to sort records numerically by the object ID number or
"Accessn(num)" to sort records numerically by Accession#.
13. Please note that you have changed the "Sort by" in one catalog. You
will need to select numeric sorting for each catalog, as desired.
Please contact the PastPerfect operations support team at 800-562-6080
if you have any questions. We are happy to help!
This month's tip was created in response to a Frequently Asked Question
(F.A.Q.). This and other F.A.Q.s may be found under the Support portion
of our website. F.A.Q.s answer some of the most common questions in the
areas of Operations, Collections, System Requirements, Contact
Management, Conversions, Virtual Exhibit, PastPerfect Online, as well as
Errors and Technical Support. Check it out!
http://www.museumsoftware.com/support/faq.htm
If you have comments or suggestions for future additions to the F.A.Q.
page please e-mail page please e-mail betsy@museumsoftware.com.
________________________________
7. Contact Information
Address: 300 North Pottstown Pike, Suite 200 Exton, PA 19341
Website: www.MuseumSoftware.com <http://www.museumsoftware.com/>
Sales & Product Info: 800-562-6080 or sales@museumsoftware.com
Support: 800-562-6080 or support@museumsoftware.com
Training: 800-562-6080 or training@museumsoftware.com
Data Conversions: 800-562-6080 or conversions@museumsoftware.com
To unsubscribe: http://www.museumsoftware.com/newunsubscribe.htm or
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