ANSM ConferenceThanks to everyone who joined us in Annapolis Royal for the "Changing Tide" conference. While I (Karin) was only there for one day, it was still great to see all the familiar, friendly faces and to hear about the work of colleagues from across the heritage spectrum. As Krystal Tanner noted in her talk, we have really cool jobs.
Museums 101
This Thursday and Friday I'll be teaching Museums 101, part of our Museum Studies Program, at the Hooked Rug Museum of North America in Hubbards. There are two spots left, so if you have never taken this workshop or want to send someone from your museum, please contact me directly as online registration is now closed. I've got a few new things up my sleeve for this one and will be sure to tie evaluation expectations/requirements with the content. I promise it will be well worth your time.
Museum Evaluation Program
Notice has been sent to the museums being evaluated in 2019, and you can read the announcement and see the full rotation from 2019-2022 on our website. You will notice that we don't have the Documentation Review or Site Evaluation forms online anymore, as the Evaluation Working Group (formerly the MEP Steering Committee) is putting finishing touches on revisions. The group met again this month, and have been conversing by email on an almost daily basis in order to wrap this up and release the documents.
Orientation sessions are taking place in October for those that are on next year's list. If you were evaluated in 2016 and attended one of those orientations, some of the information will be familiar, but we are also going to spend some time talking about management practices and community engagement opportunities. These have been two areas in which museums have consistently struggled with evaluation, so our goal is to address your questions and set you up for better results this time around.
CollectiveAccess Update
There are now 295,369 artifacts documented with 176,703 associated images, which means that 135 new records and 674 new images have been added to CollectiveAccess this month - good work everyone!
The Central region added the most images this month, good job! Also, congratulations are in order for the DesBrisay Museum for reaching the 10,000+ benchmark for images added. Great work!
We have run a report for the number of records created and modified since 2015. If you are interested in receiving these totals for your site, please email Sandi at advisory@ansm.ns.ca.
Here's what the numbers look like at the regional level:
Southwest -131,595 artifacts, 67,141 images
Central -100,118 artifacts, 50,263 images
Northeast - 33,551 artifacts, 43,511 images
Cape Breton - 30,105 artifacts, 15,788 images
We are happy to report that there are new search options in CollectiveAccess to assist you with documenting the number of records added and/or modified per account. This is helpful if you wish to report to the board about progress being made. It is also extremely beneficial to have for staff and volunteer progress reports and exit interviews.
You can search for a list of records modified or created after a certain date with the following keyword search: modified:"after year" (ex. modified:"after 2016") or created:"after year" (ex. created:"after 2016"). Looking for results from a particular month? Simply add in the month: modified:"month year" (ex. modified:"June 2016" or created:"month year" (ex. created: "June 2016").You can use this to determine productivity levels per account by adding in the username. The username will vary depending on what was chosen during the time of set-up. If you are unsure what the usernames are for your accounts, please contact us. Let's use student1 for this example. The key word search would be modified.username:"after year" or created.username:"after year" (ex. modified.student1:"after 2016" or created.student1:"after 2016"). You can take this one step further and look at monthly results. The keyword search would be: modified.username:"month year" (ex. modified.student1:"June 2016") or created.username:"month year" (ex. created.student1:"June 2016"). It is crucial that you follow this format in order to see results. Do not exclude the period, semi-colin or quotation marks from your search.
MyNovaMuse GalleriesEveryone now has log-in information for the myNovaMuse-Galleries. Remember to feature records from your museum in your galleries space when logged into the museum account. Looking for fun projects for your volunteers? Why not ask them to get involved with this initiative! Click here to watch the YouTube tutorial.
Check out this neat addition by the Kings County Museum - Fashion Through the Ages.
Photo Kit
Right now is the perfect time of year to work on digitization. Spots are still available this fall! The kit contains a light and dark backdrop set-up, lighting, and tripod (camera not included). Please contact Sandi if you would like to borrow it (available for a 3 week period). Pick-up and drop-off is at the ANSM office in Halifax.
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| Allison Magee, SME |
Staff at both the Kings County Museum and Colchester Historeum are continuing work with SMEs in their area. Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame has also joined in on the fun! Pictured to the right is Allison Magee, SME at the Kings County Museum, working on silverware records.
Keep an eye out for a new resource on how to connect and share stories found in your records later this year.
Interested in forming these sort of partnerships with subject matter experts in your area? Check out our 'Working with SMEs' tip sheet here.
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| Practice Exercise |
We will host a webinar series on collections management soon. We will review CollectiveAccess features and best practices in detail. The webinar series is currently in development. A schedule will be released mid-October. We are excited to offer members of the Advisory Service online training that will be both interactive and engaging. Those who tune in will also be provided with practice exercises that Sandi will review and provide feedback on. Stay tuned for more information! In the meantime, check out a sneak peak of one of the practice exercises for storage locations to the left.
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