December 2009 Update

Season’s Greetings

On behalf of Derek Watts and the rest of the ITCMA committee and project staff – happy holidays to all of the Passage participants. We hope that you have a wonderful and relaxing holiday season, and look forward to working with you in 2010.

New Year, Old Office

For those who haven’t heard, Karin is officially back in the ANSM office on Marginal Road in Halifax. This means that you can track Karin down even more easily. She can be reached at the main ANSM line or toll-free number, her cell, email, and through Skype.

Also, we want to remind anyone who has a link to the old FNSH website that this should be updated to the new ANSM website. This is not something that we can do for you, so please get your webmaster to update the information.

The ANSM office will be closed from December 19^th until January 4^th.

Renewal Contracts

This year’s contracts have been sent out, so keep an eye out for them in your mail. Please sign & return these with payment to ANSM as soon as possible, and note that this year’s deadline for returning the contracts is January 31^st.

CHIN Enrichment Project

The deadline for this year’s CHIN project is January 31^st, so if you haven’t finished adding the enriched information & images to your database and uploaded to Artefacts Canada, now is the time to do it. This year 26 sites are participating, which means that we will have over 500 newly enriched records with images on Artefacts Canada before February. Let us know if you need help fulfilling the funding obligations and getting your records online. We are here to help.

Equipment Purchase

As you all know, we have been working on a bulk purchase of several small pieces of equipment for participant sites. Thank you to everyone who gave us other equipment suggestions as well, since that helps us determine and better meet your needs. Our order has been placed, which means we will be looking at ways to facilitate delivery & introduction of the equipment. Stay tuned in the New Year for more details.

Artefacts Canada Tally

With our CHIN Enrichment Project deadline fast-approaching, we are now seeing enriched records with images being uploaded to Artefacts Canada. 12,314 new records have been uploaded so far this month, giving Passage sites a grand total of 145,104 records on Artefacts Canada.

Here are the new regional stats:

Southwest: 64,736

Central: 34,333

Northeast: 24,901

Cape Breton: 21,134

Congratulations to the Southwest Region for uploading the most records this month. Honourable mentions go to Fort Point Museum and Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame, two new Passage sites who together have almost 6,000 records online.

Blog Polls

This year Karin has asked Santa for one thing – that all the Passage sites will vote in the Loan Management poll at the bottom of the page. Please help make her wish come true.

Message from PSC Chair Derek Watts

Message from Derek Watts, Chair Passage Steering Committee and Passage Project Administrator , Wolfville Historical Society.

1 December 2009

Well, here we are at the end of the year for which Wolfville Historical Society successfully applied for the SDI Passage grant, and during which it administered and delivered the Passage Project to you, the partners. In the first few months of the year, your steering committee reached an agreement with the ANSM board and the story concerning that was circulated to you all at the time. The principle and most important outcome of the agreement for the partners was that Passage earnings (surplus of income over expense) accumulated during the previous years was acknowledged in its full amount by ANSM, and identified and secured in segregated accounts (Passage Support Funds), for use only for benefit of the project. Another part of the agreement was the creation of a Collections Management Advisory Committee (CMAC) by the board. The principle and most important part of this committee's work was to prepare the ground for the Passage's re-establishment as a service project of ANSM. A new committee, replacing the Passage Steering Committee, with a broader mandate was recommended by CMAC. Terms of Reference for this committee, called the Information Technology and Collections Management Advisory Committee, together with Terms of Reference for the Collections Co-ordinator, were written and adopted by the ANSM board on November 6^th and the CMAC was dissolved. Accordingly, PSC dissolved itself on 27 November. Members of the PSC will continue as members of the ITCMA (as it will be referred to), together with additional members as time goes on. I have offered to be chair of this committee for the coming year.

In August, Anita Price (who must be well known to you all), joined ANSM as Managing Director. As the original Passage visionary, she collaborated with the CMAC in their final work and that vision for Passage has now been clearly spelled out in the Terms of Reference referred to. With PSC, she collaborated in the preparation of the SDI application for 2009/2010. That application was made by ANSM this time, and it was approved by the Minister of Tourism, Culture & Heritage on November 17^th.

This year was a very busy one for the PSC, stressful for some, but one of considerable accomplishment. Karin's work and service was outstanding and produced a very good result. Altogether a great foundation has been laid down for important initiatives in 2010 which will be come clear to you when the year's work plan has been developed in detail.

November 2009 Update

Steering Committee & SDI

The Steering Committee held it’s final meeting under the auspices of the Wolfville Historical Society on November 5^th. The final report to SDI has been submitted, and we are very pleased to report that we once again exceeded our funding deliverables. Renewals contracts are being mailed out this week, so please get these back to us as soon as possible.

CHIN Enrichment Project

Anna’s research contract has come to a close which means that Jen is now handling all of the enrichment work. We are well on the way to meeting all of our funding deliverables, and now need your help to make sure your records are updated and uploaded in time. This must be done by the end of January at the very latest. If you have never participated in this work, please contact us so we can make sure you don’t miss out on such a great opportunity.

Data Entry Support (aka Melanie’s work)

The Queens County Museum records have now all been entered. Thanks to Melanie for all of her hard work! We will be looking at other ways for Melanie to help out Passage participants, and will keep you posted about our volunteer’s activities. Once the enrichment work has been completed on their 20 art objects, all of the information will be uploaded to Artefacts Canada.

Skype & Crossloop

Need help but want to avoid long distance phone bills? Karin is now online via Skype every day, so you can either call or send a quick text message with your questions or comments. The online Passage skype community continues to grow, so if you aren’t signed up already, create an account and search for karinkierstead as a new contact.

Karin is also available to connect to your computer with Crossloop. This is the perfect thing for any contract staff who are working on the database, as Karin can be virtually by their side as they get acquainted with the Passage system. If something goes wrong, or they want to be shown something, Karin can control your computer and walk them through the steps. They can watch her enter records, attach photos, or otherwise use the database. It’s a great and efficient way to get a refresher course in the database.

Remote assistance is going to become an integral part of Passage services in order to cut down on travel costs and make troubleshooting more efficient. Here’s a little testimonial of how it’s working so far:

“Karin spoke to me about downloading Skype. I am so computer illiterate that it is embarrassing. So I asked a couple of questions and wow! Here I am talking away to her, getting answers to problems immediately. It even saves conversations for future reference when the same mistake happens.” ~Brenda, Cape Sable Historical Society

Equipment Survey

The Steering Committee has been calling and emailing all partner sites to determine your equipment needs for facilitating remote assistance. If you have not talked to your regional representative, let Karin know right away if you have the following equipment at your museum. We are currently negotiating a bulk purchase and wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on this opportunity.

1. Microphone (for your computer)
2. Webcam
3. External Hard Drive

Blog Polls

Thanks to everyone who has voted so far in our poll about managing loans in your museum. If you haven’t yet voted, please scroll to the bottom of the page and let us know how you handle loans at your institution. This is a key piece of information that will be used to help us meet this coming year’s deliverables, so we need everyone to vote by simply clicking in the appropriate check boxes.

Artefacts Canada Tally

There weren’t any changes in the uploading tally for November, so the regional standings remain the same as last month:

Southwest: 59,196

Central: 29,015

Northeast: 24,623

Cape Breton: 21,134

October 2009 Update

Steering Committee & SDI
Due to illness, the PSC meeting was postponed until November 5th. This is to be the last meeting with the Wolfville Historical Society administering the project, and so we will be saying a special little thank you for Derek and his wonderful group in recognition of all the hard work they put in to the project over the past year.
Thank you to everyone who has returned their completed evaluation & self-assessment surveys. Remember that results will be discussed on Thursday and are part of our SDI funding obligations, so Karin needs these back asap.

Regional Meetings
Both the Southwest Regional Curator’s Group and the Iona Connection held their regional meetings this month. Since they were scheduled one day apart attending both would have been very difficult logistically, so Karin attended the Southwest one in Annapolis Royal and Anita Price, Managing Director of ANSM attended the Iona Connection meeting in Iona. Their respective reports were sent and shared with the groups, yet another example of the cooperation that continues to build between Passage and ANSM.


CHIN Enrichment Project
Jen & Anna are working hard to make sure all of our CHIN funding deliverables are met. While we are already close to meeting the required number of new & updated records being uploaded to Artefacts Canada, there is one deliverable that we cannot meet without certain partners’ participation. In order for the project to be deemed a success by CHIN, 8 new museums need to upload records to Artefacts Canada. If you have never uploaded records to Artefacts Canada, you meet this criteria and can help to ensure that our funding obligations are met. We also have to upload over 400 records, so now is the time to inundate us with objects to research.
On top of meeting our funding obligations, we really don’t want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to learn more about the art objects in their collection. We have a research assistant who specialized in paintings & prints at NSCAD University, and so this is a real opportunity for people to garner some expert knowledge. All you have to do is pick out your items and get in touch with Karin or Jen.

Data Cleaning
Now that site visits are completed I have returned to the task of data cleaning. There are only a few sites that have yet to receive this extra assistance, and in order to meet our SDI funding obligations we must complete this by the end of November. In order to meet our deadline, it is important that we move this along as swiftly as possible.


Data Entry Support (aka Melanie’s work)
Melanie is still working on entering backlogged records, but is nearing the end. Once completed, the Queens County Museum will be finished the first two steps of the Passage game plan, having everything entered skeletally, and the entire database uploaded to Artefacts Canada.


Artefacts Canada Tally
Last month we saw the most records uploaded since we first installed the upload button in the database. So this month we’ve had a bit of a lull. 1,178 records were uploaded, giving us a new grand total of 132,690 records on Artefacts Canada.

Here are the current regional standings:
Southwest: 59,196
Central: 29,015
Northeast: 24,623
Cape Breton: 21,134

Congratulations to the Southwest Region for uploading 1,178 records this month, and for being the only region to upload!

Blog Polls
Thank you to everyone who voted in our most recent blog poll. We asked you who was doing the database work, staff, volunteers, students, or a combination of the three. While we were a little disappointed that only 16 of you voted, we hope that the results are reflective of the entire group. Here are the results:
Staff – 3 votes
Volunteers – 7 votes
Students – 3 votes
Combination – 3 votes
This suggests that 43% of Passage sites use volunteers to accomplish their database work

Check out our latest blog poll question about loans at the bottom of the blog page. Please check all applicable answers.

CNSA Training
Interested in learning more about copyright laws and how they affect your museum? The CNSA is holding a 2-day workshop on November 12-13th at NSARM in Halifax. The deadline to register is November 9th, and costs $50 for CNSA members or $75 for non-members. For more information visit the CNSA website.

September 2009 Update

Steering Committee & SDI

Our SDI proposal was adjudicated on September 18^th. While we hope to hear the outcome sometime in October, with the current political landscape it is possible that the announcement will not be made until mid-November.

The next PSC meeting will be held at 10am on October 16^th at the Colchester Historical Society Museum & Archives in Truro.

Site Visits

September was very busy for site visits. I literally traveled from one end of the province to the other, visiting 20 partner sites. After a fairly slow start to the summer tourism season, things seem to have really picked up in July & August. Some museums even reported an increased visitation of 10-15%, mostly from local & provincial travelers. What a great trend to see!

Jen & Anna have also been visiting selected sites as part of the CHIN Enrichment Project. This month they visited 5 partner museums, providing them with digitization training and offering on-site assistance with enrichment work.

CHIN Enrichment Project

Have you sent in your art objects to Jen & Anna yet? If not, you need to do it right away. If you don’t have art objects in your collection, send in some of your favorite items instead. Anna will only be with us until the end of October, so let’s inundate her with research requests before she leaves.

Jen & Anna have a special request. While we’ve seen a lot of variety in objects being submitted this year, we have yet to see any whirligigs. So if you have a whirligig in your collection, give the girls a call and tell them that you’d like to showcase it on Artefacts Canada.

Don’t forget that the new Passage self-assessment gives bonus points for participating in CHIN projects, so this is a great way to learn more about your collection and boost your score at the same time.

Data Cleaning

Now that site visits are completed I will be getting back to data cleaning. There are only a few sites that have yet to receive this extra assistance, and in order to meet our SDI funding obligations we must complete this by the end of November. In order to meet our deadline, it is important that we move this along as swiftly as possible.

Data Entry Support (aka Melanie’s work)

Melanie is still working on entering backlogged records, but is nearing the end. Once completed, the Queens County Museum will be finished the first two steps of the Passage game plan, having everything entered skeletally, and the entire database uploaded to Artefacts Canada.

Artefacts Canada Tally

Last month I reported that uploading would slow down since almost everyone had their entire database online. Well, I am pleased to say that I jumped the gun a little bit. September saw the most uploading to date, with 22,662 records going online. We now have a grand total of 132,690 records on Artefacts Canada. Great work everyone!

Here are the current regional standings:

Southwest: 57,918

Central: 29,015

Northeast: 24,623

Cape Breton: 21,134

Congratulations to the Southwest Region for uploading 18,000 records this month! It looks like they really don’t want to lose that top spot.

Blog Polls

This is your last chance to answer the blog poll before the results are shared at the October 16^th Steering Committee meeting. This is a crucial question to answer as it will affect how & when we deliver training in the future. Who is doing your database work? Staff? Volunteers? Students? We need to know, so scroll to the bottom of the page and pick the one that fits your museum.

Vacation

After traveling around our fair province all summer, Karin is going to take a little vacation before shifting gears and doing full-time office work again. She will be leaving Friday, October 2nd and won't be back until Tuesday, October 13th. Should you need assistance during this period please contact Jen at 423-4677 or project@ansm.ns.ca.

August 2009 Update

Steering Committee & SDI
The Steering Committee is pleased to announce that an SDI proposal was submitted in cooperation with the ANSM. Proposals will be adjudicated on September 18th, and we will let you know as soon as hear whether or not we are successful. Everyone keep your fingers crossed!

Site Visits
Due to some difficulties with car rentals, Karin and the enrichment team have had to share a vehicle for the month of August. Even so, Karin still managed to visit 10 sites in 3 of the 4 regions. Jen & Anna visited 9 sites, providing data enrichment training & assistance.

CHIN Enrichment Project
Last month you were introduced to Jen & Anna, and asked to submit your art objects for showcasing on Artefacts Canada. Thank you to everyone who has done this. So far we’ve seen carvings of south shore wildlife, watercolour landscapes from the Annapolis Valley, Acadian tapestries, oil paintings of the Cabot Trail …the list goes on and on. But we still need and want to see more!

To get you even more excited about this work, we thought we’d provide an example of this project’s success and potential. Nothing was known about this print before Jen & Anna arrived on-site. Here’s a taste of the information the museum now has about their object:

This handmade, pristine print with exceptional colour, was made for the White Starr-Dominion Line. The British shipping company is known for the devastating loss of the Titanic and also the First World War loss of the Britannica. The print was handmade and has beautiful registration; each layer of coloured ink was perfectly aligned and layed down without smears. The print was made using 4 - 5 colours of ink and was either made from woodblock reliefs or a screen-print. It was made sometime after the First World War, and most likely before 1925. The print has early elements of the art deco style including a bold, simple graphic. The modern, streamlined advertisement echos modern art movements such as Cubism, Futurism, and Bauhaus.

The girls need to know as soon as possible what objects you’d like to learn more about and then showcase on Artefacts Canada, so now is the time for you to select your 20 items and email Jen the list of accession numbers. You can pick more than 20 items if you want, and here are a few ideas on what to submit:
1. portraits of early settlers & prominent Nova Scotians
2. paintings and prints of the Nova Scotia landscape
3. sketches & drawings of local buildings, ships, events etc
4. folk art of all shapes and sizes

We’re feeling confident that this will be the best enrichment project yet, so make sure that you don’t miss out on this great opportunity to learn more about the art objects in your collection.

Data Cleaning
While Karin is still on the road there will be a hiatus in data cleaning work. For those few sites still waiting to get this support, she will be in touch in October to get your database and provide this support.

Data Entry Support (aka Melanie’s work)
Melanie is approaching the 2/3 mark with Queen's County Museum's records, and is thrilled to report that things are moving much more quickly with this set of records.

Artefacts Canada Tally
Although we’ve seen continued uploading in August, we didn’t quite match our record of almost 17,000 from July. Most sites now have their entire collection online, and so we are now seeing a much more collective upload. Instead of just a few sites sending up thousands of records at once, we’re seeing fewer new records uploaded from a much broader group of sites. This is exactly what we expected to see following the release of the game plan and initial mass uploading. With 6,309 records going online in August, we now have a grand total of 110,026 records on Artefacts Canada!

Here are the current regional standings:
Southwest: 39,702
Central: 28,536
Northeast: 21,163
Cape Breton: 20,625

Congratulations to the Southwest Region for uploading the most records this month!

Blog Polls
We are still waiting to hear back from many on you about who is doing your data entry work. If you haven’t already, please check out the poll at the bottom of the page and tell us if Staff, Students, Volunteers, or a combination of these are working with the database. This information will be crucial to the Steering Committee as it plans future delivery and support methods.

Interim SDI Report

COMMUNITY MUSEUMS
PASSAGE PROJECT
Interim Report July 31, 2009


OBJECTIVE:

The Passage Project sought funding to increase the capacity and online profile of 53 community museums through uploading information to Artefacts Canada. Funding was also sought to incorporate three new museums into the group.

Funding Deliverables:
• 100,000 clean and unclean basic records uploaded to Artefacts Canada
• review and clean collections databases for 15 sites, proofreading and reviewing information and providing customized report on improving methodology
• 500 new and updated enriched records with images uploaded to Artefacts Canada
• 50 site visits conducted by Passage Project staff, providing on-site one-on-one consultation with museum staff & volunteers
• Regular contact and communication with member institutions
• Increased communication and cooperation with other organizations
• Improved management practices tracking members’ capacity
• Increased visitation and enquiries, monitoring success of uploading information


BACKGROUND AND CURRENT STANDING:

The primary objective of uploading information to Artefacts Canada is to increase Passage partners’ online profiles, which will in turn increase their online and on-site visitation numbers and enquiries. This not only increases the level of understanding of their current audience, but reaches out to new visitors, increasing Nova Scotia’s heritage profile as a whole. Sites were encouraged to focus their attention on catalogue records still needing to be entered in the database in order to be able to operate with a full database. It is estimated that there are approximately 225,000 objects in partner museums’ collections, but not all of these have been entered into the databases. Over 20,000 records have been entered over the past 8 months, bringing the total number of entries to over 183,000.
To date, 103,744 records have been uploaded, representing 103% of the funding obligation.

The Data Cleaning work provides sites with visible improvements to their databases, along with a report that helps them maintain this consistency in the future, regardless of changes in staff or other issues. Furthermore, it prepares records for uploading to Artefacts Canada so that sites do not have to worry about having unprofessional information made available to the public.
To date, 13 sites have received the data cleaning service, representing 87% of the funding obligation. Passage staff continue their efforts to complete this work, obtaining and working on the remaining databases as site visits are conducted, and are confident that it will be finished by the end of the project year (November) if not earlier.

Passage has continued in its partnership with the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) in order to increase the number of enriched records on Artefacts Canada and the Virtual Museum of Canada. Focusing on furniture that was either made in Nova Scotia or holds special significance for the partner museum, objects were photographed, researched, and uploaded to Artefacts Canada.
To date, 677 records have been enriched. 441 of these have been uploaded with images to Artefacts Canada, representing 88% of the funding obligation.

On top of the limited winter visits, regular site visits began in May. These included a database upgrade, initiation of a Passage game plan for completing database work, and an introduction to Skype so that sites can make free “calls” to support staff when they require assistance.
To date, 41 of the 50 site visits have been conducted, representing 82% of the funding obligation. Almost all of the remaining visits have already been scheduled and will be completed by October at the latest.

In April Karin attended the annual conference of the Association of Nova Scotia Museums. She wrote a report of the conference which was forwarded to all partner sites, the ANSM board of directors, Steering Committee, and posted on the blog so that partners could benefit from the event even if they were not able to attend. Karin also attended the regional meetings in April, held in Amherst, Baddeck, Halifax, and Mahone Bay. All of these meetings were very well attended, and provided Passage staff with the opportunity both to hear about what is going on at members’ museums, and also to be able to report face-to-face on Passage activities.

As previously mentioned, a Passage game plan was drafted in order to assist sites in taking a methodical approach to their work. Partner museums reported that they were feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work to be done, and never seemed able to catch up on it. The game plan provides them with small, step-by-step directions on what to focus their attention on, and is designed to give them a functioning database that can then be added to and updated on a regular basis. It also has a companion self-assessment document that allows Passage & museum staff to monitor their progress and see what areas need work. In the short time that it has been in use, project staff have observed a drastic increase in data entry and uploading. Thousands of records have been entered and uploaded over the past two months. Passage staff are formally tracking this activity to compare it to the rate of data entry & uploading in years past, and hope to encourage all parties involved by showing such drastic improvement. The game plan has also been posted to the blog as a permanent resource for partner sites.

Passage was also fortunate to obtain its first-ever centralized volunteer, Melanie Baker. After discussing what work needed to be accomplished, it was decided that the volunteer would provide data entry assistance for sites who have an overwhelming backlog that they have been unable to cope with. Sites applied for this assistance, and the volunteer is now working on an 11-year backlog of data entry for the selected museum. In order to expedite the process, Melanie is strictly adhering to the game plan and only completing step one for the chosen site. After accomplishing this, it will be much easier for them to update and manage their information as time and resources allow.

In cooperation with the Association of Nova Scotia Museums, Passage has also been able to partner with CHIN again for another Collections Development Project. This began in mid-July and is only in the early stages, but this year enrichment work will be done on Art objects in partners’ collections, following the sub-category of Art in the Revised Nomenclature for Museum Cataloguing. The Enrichment Project Officer and Research Assistant will be visiting selected museums to provide on-site training and digitization assistance. Off-site research and further assistance will be provided in order to enrich the catalogue records and ensure that quality information and images will be uploaded to Artefacts Canada.



FUTURE WORK:

In the coming months, Karin will be continuing with site visits, ensuring that all partner sites are on track with the database work, and providing them with the aforementioned Passage game plan to complete the work at a faster pace.

Passage staff and the Steering Committee will continue to be in regular communication with members through phone, email, and the Passage blog (http://passagemuseums.blogspot.com). As mentioned in the last report, the blog has become an integral part of the Passage communication plan, providing members with a way to access past and present updates, notices, and messages from the Steering Committee. It also allows members to comment on the postings and answer questions that help the Steering Committee determine the future direction of Passage. An average of three posts are made per month, so that members are always up-to-date on project activities. New poll questions will be posted every other month so that the Steering Committee will continue to get a much clearer picture of the community and its needs.

As this report has shown, the Passage Project is on track with its funding deliverables, and the Steering Committee and staff are confident that the remaining deliverables will be completed by the end of the project year.

July 2009 Update

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee met on July 30^th for it’s quarterly meeting. On the agenda was the usual staff & project reports (including feedback obtained from the partners during site visits), the upcoming SDI proposal, and a review of the finances. The PSC is pleased to report that we are on budget, and are ahead of schedule in meeting our SDI deliverables for the year. The interim SDI report has been posted to the blog for those who are interested in reading it.

Site Visits

Karin visited 11 sites in July, in 3 of the 4 regions. She was also a CMAP evaluation team leader, which meant a few more days on the road assisting with this very important program.

CHIN Enrichment Project

This year’s enrichment project, formerly known as “Made in NS” has officially started. As you’ll remember, we are focusing on art objects this year, following the Chenhall sub-category. This includes paintings, prints, sculptures, carvings, drawings, sketches, Christmas tree ornaments, among other things. Jen Bawden, one of our research assistants from last year, is heading things up, and Anna Fitzgerald is this year’s research assistant. Anna comes to us from NSCAD University and is thrilled to be able to offer her expertise on art objects in your collections.

The girls need to know as soon as possible what objects you’d like to learn more about and then showcase on Artefacts Canada, so now is the time for you to select your 20 items and email Jen the list of accession numbers. You can pick more than 20 items if you want, and following is a short list of things that we’d like to see showcased this year:

1. portraits of early settlers & prominent Nova Scotians
2. paintings and prints of the Nova Scotia landscape
3. sketches & drawings of local buildings, ships, events etc
4. folk art of all shapes and sizes

We’re all very excited to see what you come up with, and look forward to showing the world our artistic side.

Data Cleaning (aka Lynn’s work)

As you all know by now, Lynn has moved to Ontario and so will no longer be working on data cleaning for us. But before she left, another 3 sites and 2978 records were cleaned.

Data Entry Support (aka Melanie’s work)

Melanie is still working away on Queen’s County Museum’s records, and is almost at the half-way mark.

Artefacts Canada Tally

As anticipated, with seasonal sites open and the Passage game plan in full swing, we are seeing a big increase in the rate of uploading. This month we made an upload record, with a whopping 16,943 records going online. That means that we now have a grand total of 103,717 records on Artefacts Canada!

Here are the current regional standings:

Southwest: 36,590

Central: 28,518

Northeast: 20,204

Cape Breton: 18,405

Congratulations to the Southwest Region for uploading the most records this month and reclaiming the top spot!

Blog Polls

We are still waiting to hear back from many on you about who is doing your data entry work. If you haven’t already, please check out the poll at the bottom of the page and tell us if Staff, Students, Volunteers, or a combination of these are working with the database. This information will be crucial to the Steering Committee as it plans future delivery and support methods.

June 2009 Update

Site Visits

Karin has been on the road for most of June, visiting 18 sites in total and rotating travel among the 4 regions. So far people have been very pleased with the database upgrade and other new services being introduced. Due to the positive reception of the game plan, it has been posted to the blog so that everyone can take advantage of it right away.

Here’s what people are saying about it:

· This will be a great way to keep my summer students on track

· I’ll be showing this to CMAP during my evaluation as our plan for working with the database

· After two weeks, I finished the first two steps and had everything online. I can’t believe it!

Data Cleaning (aka Lynn’s work)

June was a busy month in terms of providing support to all the opening sites and handling some other important tasks, which means that the data cleaning work was fairly slow. Still, 1329 records were cleaned for one site.

Data Entry Support (aka Melanie’s work)

Melanie is still working away on Queen’s County Museum’s records, and is about 1/3 of the way through. With the new duplicate record button in the database, her rate of progress is increasing.

Do you have a backlog of paper records to be entered in your database? Could you use some extra assistance getting through it? If you’re interested in receiving this support please follow the call for proposals that was sent out last week and send it to Karin. This does not have to be a formal application; you just have to prove that you could use some help. If you no longer have the call for proposals document, let Karin know and she can send it off to you.

Artefacts Canada Tally

With seasonal sites now open and following the new Passage game plan, we are expecting to see a big increase in uploading over the summer months. This month 7,979 records went online, which gives us a grand total of 86,774 records on Artefacts Canada.

Here are the current regional standings:

Central: 27,666

Southwest: 25,092

Northeast: 19,969

Cape Breton: 14,047

Congratulations to Cape Breton for uploading the most records this month. They almost doubled their former tally!

Passage in the Community

On June 20^th Karin, Lynn, Paul Collins of the Nova Scotia Museum and Aidan Norton, newly appointed Curator of the Colchester Historical Museum attended the grand opening of the recently renovated Creamery Square Heritage Centre in Tatamagouche. The event was well attended by the local community, members of the Nova Scotia museum community as well as several special guests, including MP Peter MacKay. Visitors were invited to tour the exhibition space which provides an attractive and thoughtful history of the Tatamagouche area and its people. The onsite farmers market was also open for business, providing visitors with a wide selection of local food, wine, music and crafts. We encourage everyone to visit Tatamagouche and experience this unique sample of Nova Scotian heritage.

Blog Polls

Results are in from the past poll, which asked how many artifacts are in your collections.

1. 7 people said 1 - 3,000
2. 7 people said 3,001 - 7,000
3. 4 people said 7,001 – 15,000
4. 3 people said 15,001 – 25,000

The new poll is up, and for this one we want to know who is doing the most work in your database, entering new records, updating old records etc. You can choose staff, volunteers, students, or a combination of these three. I encourage all of you to participate in this poll as it really helps the Steering Committee gain a clearer picture of the museum community and provides insight into how we can help you.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the poll.

Making Passage Work

As members of the Passage Project you have recognized the need for electronic collections management in the museum. When used properly, this software allows museum staff, volunteers and visitors to enhance information retrieval. It promotes consistency in record keeping, within the museum and the wider museum community. Further, collections management software facilitates easier exchange of information between museums and has the potential for world wide sharing of information through the internet. While Passage Software is designed to be user friendly, it is like all technology in that it requires users to follow a certain protocol.

To ensure that your museum gets the most out of the Passage software, follow the steps outlined below. These steps will allow you to maintain up-to-date records that meet the professional standard. The suggested order should be followed whether there is one person dedicated solely to the database, if it falls under a wider job description of a staff member or if a larger team is working on the database.

Bare Minimum

Step 1- Create Skeletal Records
By this we mean filling in the six required fields in the database (Arc/Arf, Accession number, Permanent Building, Object Name, Source Name, Accession Date). All items that are owned by the museum or society should have the “Include on the Web” box checked. When entering object names, ensure that the Chenhall Nomenclature book is used to maintain consistency and meet a professional standard. This will provide you with a fully functioning database for your entire collection and will allow you to move on to step 2. Without a minimal record for every artifact in your collection, the database will never truly work for you.

Step 2- Upload to Artefacts Canada
At this point, records should be uploaded to Artefacts Canada. It is not necessary to wait to upload until records are perfect; you can later add to and improve what has been uploaded. Remember, more records can lead to greater knowledge sharing, publicity for the museum and opportunities for future funding opportunities. This will also provide you with an off-site backup of your information.
Refer to Appendix D in the Collections Database Manual for instructions on uploading.

Step 3- Do a Quick Inventory
Step 1 allows you to do step 3 very quickly and efficiently. This inventory should be based on Accession Number and Permanent Location only. Match this information with the database record. Ensure that all artefacts are located in the same building, room and specific location that are listed in their records. If not, artefacts should be located and new locations documented. This step is essential- artefacts, particularly small artefacts, can go missing for various reasons, without the knowledge of staff.
*Repeat Step 2 to refresh the information on Artefacts Canada in case something has been changed.

Value-Added Information

Step 4- Transfer Additional Information from Paper Records
Go back through the ‘skeletal records’ and fill in the additional information from the existing paper records. It is extremely important to transfer history/narrative information from the paper records because if this information is lost it may be impossible to gather again. Some paper records will not have sufficient information about the object (eg. Measurements, colour, material, etc may be left out). If this is the case, this information should be gathered and entered into the database. The goal is to include as much information as possible for each record- don’t limit yourself to the first page of the database!
*Repeat Step 2 to refresh the information and update the skeletal records with the new and improved information on Artefacts Canada.

Step 5- Photograph/ Scan Objects and Add to Records
All artefact records need to include an image. This process should be done systematically by location. Begin photography in a particular room, in a particular section of the room. Ensure that you have paper and a pen to record the accession numbers of the artefacts photographed to rename the digital image. It is important to do this methodically to avoid wasting time photographing the same artefacts more than once. Depending on the size of the collection, it is unlikely that all photography will be done in one day- take your time, get professional quality photographs and document carefully so future photographers will be able to pick up where you left off.
Three dimensional objects should be photographed following the rules presented in Appendix B and Appendix C of the Collections Database Manual. Two dimensional objects, such as photographs and documents should be scanned. If there is no scanner onsite, photographs can be taken of 2D objects.
*Repeat Step 2 to refresh the information and provide a digital image for your records on Artefacts Canada.

Step 6- Enriched Records
Finally, records should be enriched according to CHIN’s standards. Appendix A of the Collections Database Manual lists the fields required by CHIN. Some of these fields (eg. Brand Name) will not be applicable for all artefacts. Ensure that all applicable fields are complete.
The enrichment process allows the staff to research artefacts in their collection. New information can be discovered this way, allowing for more interesting and impressive records as well as increased staff knowledge. To aid this research, libraries, the internet and local authorities on the subject should be consulted. Information obtained from locals should not be overlooked as this is often the most interesting and relevant to the record.
This is an excellent task to assign to summer students as it will improve their research skills and instil a greater knowledge of and appreciation for local heritage.
*Repeat Step 2 to refresh the information and provide provide even more information about your collection to the public via Artefacts Canada.

May 2009 Update

Steering Committee

The PSC is starting to discuss the next SDI funding proposal. While it is still in the very preliminary planning stages, the committee is very excited at the way things are shaping up. We hope to be able to increase face-to-face time with support staff, and increase efficiency with training and troubleshooting issues.

Site Visits

The database upgrade is ready to roll out, and site visits are now being scheduled. Requests for visits are coming in quickly, so if you have a certain day/week in mind, let Karin know asap so she can schedule you in.

The following subjects will be covered during visits:

· Passage self-assessment & game plan

· Database upgrade & review of changes

· Installation of & introduction to Crossloop®

· Installation of & introduction to Skype™

Data Cleaning (aka Lynn’s work)

April & May were very productive months for data cleaning. Lynn managed to get through two sites and over 16,700 records. Since the data cleaning initiative began, 140,000 records have been cleaned. With the comprehensive and customized reports that are given back to each site that receives this service, partner sites are then able to continue entering information in the most professional manner to ensure that their records will never need to be cleaned again.

Data Entry Support (aka Melanie’s work)

Melanie has been working away on Queen’s County Museum’s records and making good progress, entering basic info into their database to help eliminate their backlog.

Do you have a backlog of paper records to be entered in your database? Could you use some extra assistance getting through it? If you’re interested in receiving this support please follow the call for proposals that was sent out last week and send it to Karin. This does not have to be a formal application; you just have to prove that you could use some help. If you no longer have the call for proposals document, let Karin know and she can send it off to you.

Artefacts Canada Tally

With such a productive data cleaning month, this inevitably means that May was also a great month for getting more records online. A grand total of 16,478 records were sent up, which means we now have a grand total of 80,124 records on Artefacts Canada!

Here are the current regional standings:

Central: 27,666

Southwest: 24,983

Northeast: 19,932

Cape Breton: 7,543

Congratulations to the Central region for taking over the lead spot and uploading the most records this month. Way to go!!

New Staff & Volunteers at Passage Sites

There have been more staff and volunteer changes taking place at partner sites.

Colchester Historical Museum has hired a new Curator, Aidan Norton.

The Debert Military Museum has Sue Taylor taking over Passage activities.

LaHave Islands Marine Museum has said goodbye to Sheila Chambers. Kathy Sullivan is taking her place as their new curator.

Welcome aboard to all the new faces; we look forward to working with you. And to all those who are moving on to new adventures, thank you for your dedication and hard work over the years. We will miss you and truly appreciate your contribution to heritage.

Blog Polls

Since the majority of sites have not yet voted in the blog poll it has again been extended. Please vote at the bottom of the page if you haven’t already. We really appreciate your input as it helps determine how best to serve the partners.

SDI Interim Report

COMMUNITY MUSEUMS
PASSAGE PROJECT – Increasing Capacity and Online Profiles
Interim Report March 31, 2009


OBJECTIVE:

The Passage Project sought funding to increase the capacity and online profile of 53 community museums through uploading information to Artefacts Canada. Funding was also sought to incorporate three new museums into the group.

Funding Deliverables:
• 100,000 clean and unclean basic records uploaded to Artefacts Canada
• review and clean collections databases for 15 sites, proofreading and reviewing information and providing customized report on improving methodology
• 500 new and updated enriched records with images uploaded to Artefacts Canada
• 50 site visits conducted by Passage Project staff, providing on-site one-on-one consultation with museum staff & volunteers
• Regular contact and communication with member institutions
• Increased communication and cooperation with other organizations
• Improved management practices tracking members’ capacity
• Increased visitation and enquiries, monitoring success of uploading information


BACKGROUND AND CURRENT STANDING:

The primary objective of uploading information to Artefacts Canada is to increase Passage partners’ online profiles, which will in turn increase their online and on-site visitation numbers and enquiries. This not only increases the level of understanding of their current audience, but reaches out to new visitors, increasing Nova Scotia’s heritage profile as a whole.
To date, 63,656 records have been uploaded, representing 64% of the funding obligation.

The Data Cleaning work provides sites with visible improvements to their databases, along with a report that helps them maintain this consistency in the future, regardless of changes in staff or other issues. Furthermore, it prepares records for uploading to Artefacts Canada so that sites do not have to worry about having unprofessional information made available to the public.
To date, six sites have received the data cleaning service, representing 40% of the funding obligation.

Passage has continued in its partnership with the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) in order to increase the number of enriched records on Artefacts Canada and the Virtual Museum of Canada. Focusing on furniture that was either made in Nova Scotia or holds special significance for the partner museum, objects were photographed, researched, and uploaded to Artefacts Canada.
To date, 300 records were enriched, representing 60% of the funding obligation.

During the winter months very little travel has taken place due to the weather. That said, there were several special events and emergency support visits that have been able to take place.
To date, 10 of the 50 site visits have been conducted, representing 20% of the funding obligation.

In February Karin attended the Provincial Museum Association meetings hosted by CHIN and the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) in Ottawa. This is the fifth year that Passage staff have been invited to attend this invaluable event. A follow-up report was drafted and sent out to partner sites (see attached). This gave Karin an opportunity to communicate face to face with CHIN, our primary federal funder, and thereby determine of how best to proceed with that partnership. This information will be reviewed by the Passage Steering Committee at the April meeting in order to meet CHIN’s May deadline for applications for collections development projects.

In March Karin attended the annual CMA conference in Toronto, for which a follow-up report will be written and sent out to the members, similar to the PMA follow-up report. An overview of the sessions will be provided to members so that they can benefit from the event even though they were unable to attend.

Richard Cloutier has been making some minor adjustments to the collections database in order to allow multiple users/computers to access and update the database at the same time. Until now, the program had to be kept as a master copy on one computer, which for some partners was limiting access and slowing the rate of work. The update will be ready shortly, and will be installed during the spring and summer site visits to partners.


FUTURE WORK:

In the coming months, Karin will be attending the ANSM annual conference in Dartmouth and regional group meetings around the province. She will then begin conducting site visits to deliver the database upgrades and facilitate the uploading of the remaining collections databases.

Passage staff and the Steering Committee are in regular communication with members through phone, email, and the Passage blog (http://passagemuseums.blogspot.com). The blog has become an integral part of the Passage communication plan, providing members with a way to access past and present updates, notices, and messages from the Steering Committee. It also allows members to comment on the postings and answer questions that help the Steering Committee determine the future direction of Passage. Full updates are posted at once a month, with additional information being posted as required.

Overall, the Passage Project work plan is on track and the Steering Committee and staff are confident that the funding deliverables will be met by the end of the project year.
The following 55 sites, organized by region, are the current members of Passage. 53 are returning Passage Partners for the 2008/09 year. Two new sites, the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame and Charles MacDonald Concrete House, have just signed contracts to join the group.

CMA Conference Follow-Up Report - Part 4

CANADIAN MUSEUM ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE

Toronto, March 25-28, 2009

Follow-up Report

Holocaust Era Cultural Property: Workshop on Research Methodology

Presenter: Anabelle Kienle

This workshop outlined the steps taken by fine arts provenance researchers, taking a particular focus on case studies of artworks that were taken from Jewish families of European countries during the Nazi occupation. The following is their general research methodology which can be applied to any and all collection research projects.

Define Scope

1. Establish target list – identify objects, utilize pre-existing information, input information in database
2. Group objects by priority – start with most important objects.

Confirm, Expand & Establish Chain of Ownership

1. Physical examination of the object, consulting with in-house resources. Gather documentation.
2. Provenance research with a variety of sources, including exhibit history, genealogy, bibliographies.

Integrate & Disseminate Information

1. Fulfill mandate by establishing and following standards, integrating data into the collections database, compile provenance report
2. Consider options for knowledge dissemination, ie newsletters, exhibit labels, exhibition, scholarly contributions etc.

When research fine arts collections, certain information is expected that is slightly different from your normal artifact research. When examining the object, note all labels, marks, etc as this will provide preliminary provenance information. Labels have been documented by several galleries and compiled into searchable databases, most notably through the National Gallery in Washington. Information should be compiled chronologically, including exact dates, owner’s birth & death dates, and any known dates & methods of transfers of ownership. Finally, include all references used during the research process so that someone could repeat the research if desired.

Out of the Ordinary - Engaging New Audiences

Moderator: Gerry Osmond

“In order to be relevant we have to be seen in places that matter to our audience & community”. Through a series of case studies, panelists shared their success stories of reaching out to their community and expanding their audiences.

Free Admission

NB Museum initiated Free February in order to try and boost visitation. Not only was this successful, increasing their February numbers by 420%, but their March numbers increased slightly as well. Feedback showed that many visitors were local and had never been to the museum before, and they intended to return. With the current economy, they were looking for entertainment and activities in their own backyard, and the museum is able to meet this need.

Business partnerships

NB Museum partnered with Bay Ferries to share social and natural history educational programming with passengers on the Princess of Acadia. Coupons were given out to the audience, encouraging them to visit Saint John’s museums to learn more, and the NB Museum reported a marked increase in visitation by Bay Ferry passengers. Recognized as an innovative partnership the museum and company were short-listed for an award for their creativity.

Educational Partnerships

By partnering with Bachelor of Education programs, Alberta museums have engaged with pre-service teachers in order to establish a relationship and induce them to bring their students to the museum once they are working in the classroom. Participants work with archivists and curators to gain a behinds-the-scenes appreciation of museum work and draw connections between museums and curriculum content. This lets new teachers and museum staff create authentic experiences for their students.

A less orthodox method of educational outreach is being done by the Calgary Police Museum. Instead of focusing entirely on the history of the police force, the museum acts as a crime prevention centre. Working with the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre, recent graduates share their stories through a “dead end street” exhibit, showing the gradual descent into the world of crime & drugs. It is in essence a variation of the ‘scared straight’ idea, but also allows past offenders to work with the community as part of their rehabilitation process.