April 2011 Update

Membership Renewal
We've received all but a few Passage renewal payments/contracts.  If you are one of the few, please note that renewal is now past due.  For those in Cape Breton, please bring the signed contract and cheque to this Saturday's Heritage CB Connection meeting.  I will be sending out final notices this week, after which any remaining sites will be contacted by the chairman of the IMAC committee.

Database Renewal Project
Four more museums were migrated to CollectiveAccess this month, and another four databases were cleaned and prepped for migration.  I recognize that we're in a bit of a time crunch now as sites begin to open for the season, and I promise that we are moving as quickly as possible to accommodate your summer staff training and work schedules.

I've had similar questions from a number of people about what work they can/should be doing in the old database before they get migrated to the new one.  You can still enter records and information, and edit whatever textual information you want.  What I ask that you don't do, is attach any more images.  You can scan and photograph to your heart's content, but don't attach these to the old database.

Seth came to visit in April, which allowed IMAC and a few other people to sit down and discuss the database renewal project.  In case you missed it, my blog post about his visit is here.

Museums Studies Certificate
Registration for the first workshop, Museums 101, is now open.  The workshop will take place at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 on May 26-27th.  Space is limited and the registration deadline is May 19th.  If you have new staff, volunteers, board members, or if you would just like to take a refresher course on museum history, functions, ethics, trends and challenges, this workshop is for you. 

QR Code Usage Statistics
Usage seems to be picking up a bit, as this month we had 307 views at 6 sites.  That makes for a grand total of 887 views.  The Museum of Natural History's bullfrog video is the most popular.

Annual Conference
We finished off April with a very successful annual conference in Tatamagouche.  Congrats to the local arrangements committee for a job well done.  In case you weren't able to attend, you can check out my review of the museum tour and conference, and see photos on our Facebook page.

Goodbye Josh & Katie

Well, it's back to just Anita and I.  Josh finished his contract with us on Friday, which means we're back to being an all-female office.   Josh took our qr code project to a whole new level of professionalism with his great graphic design skills.  No matter how stressful things got, he remained positive and dedicated.  We wish Josh all the best in his upcoming adventures, and have a feeling we haven't heard the last of this boy...  Since we managed to not take a photo at Friday's going-away dinner, I thought I'd share something from our conference adventures.  If you see him around, feel free to congratulate him on all his good work.  And if you're looking for a graphic designer, I hear he has business cards to hand out.

Katie was around for a 3-week practicum from the Dalhousie University MLIS program, so she came and left us in April.  She was a great fit for our quirky office, and while her practicum focus was our reference library she also helped out with the conference.  Best wishes to Katie as she works for Dal this summer, and we hope to see her again soon.  For those who didn't meet her, here's what she looks like, so if you see her on the street, feel free to stop her and say "good job Kate!"