November 2018 Updates

Museum Evaluation Program
The biggest news about the MEP is that the big report for the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage (aka CCH) is finished! It is a whopping 49 pages, but half of that is appendices. As in other years, we looked at the evaluation process, trends in scoring, what influenced these trends, and how we can move forward as a sector. Once CCH reviews and approves the report we will post a public version on our website. As in the past, we will not be naming names or sharing scores in the public version.
Thinking about the 2019 evaluations, I am really impressed by how proactive several museums are in their preparations. I`ve already sent out a couple Q&A messages to the group, and will be circulating one or two more before the holidays. We`re getting good questions and there seems to be a real eagerness to improve on previous results.

Strategic Planning
A huge thank you to everyone who responded to our consultants strategic planning survey. Over 60% response rate, wow. And thank you for sharing your ideas and suggestions and for giving ANSM such good reviews. You really made my and Anita`s day when we listened to the results at the planning retreat. The board spent two days talking and planning about how we can move forward as an organization and serve you in bigger and better ways. It was great, but also exhausting. The consultants are now incorporating everything into a new plan for us, which we will of course share on our website once it is ready and adopted.

CollectiveAccess Updates
In nifty CA news, we had a non-meeting via Google Hangouts with our counterparts in other provinces and territories who are using CollectiveAccess to deliver database services to museums. We`ve been sharing our experiences with other groups for years now, and decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and get everyone talking as a group. Wow, so worth it. Representatives from 7 provinces/territories joined in, and we`re going to keep the conversations rolling. I know that sometimes it's easy to focus on what's happening in our museum, or our province, but it's great to be reminded that we are part of something much bigger.

There are now 295,762 artifacts documented with 177,482 associated images, which means that 151 new records and 418 new images have been added to CollectiveAccess this month.

Here's what the numbers look like at the regional level:
Southwest -131,719 artifacts, 67,465 images
Central -100,329 artifacts, 50,566 images
Northeast - 33,575 artifacts, 43,533 images
Cape Breton - 30,139 artifacts, 15,918 images

Digitization Tip
Pictured here is a wooden sled. The photo can be improved if the sled was photographed on a 45 degree angle. The artifact tag on the handle should also be removed. Lighting can be improved here. You can try using natural light to diminish shadows lighting is not available. The scale is in the correct position, in the bottom left-hand corner.




Webinar Series Update

In November, ANSM offered a webinar series on collections management for the museum community. This was a new experience for us at the office and were excited to explore online training. We are very pleased with the positive response we have received from participants. Thanks to everyone that tuned in. If you were unable to attend the live sessions, do not worry! We filmed the series and it is now available on the ANSM YouTube channel - click here. Please share with your staff and volunteers. It is important to incorporate these sessions, the CollectiveAccess YouTube tutorials, and the updated CollectiveAccess manual during training in the new year.

SME Partnership Update
The SME pilot sites have been busy pursuing connections in their communities. If you missed our previous update, we invite you to meet Allison Magee, silverware expert, and Kim Troop, bottle expert who volunteered at the Kings County Museum. The SME partnership video series is now available.

Fleming Partnership Update
It is that time of year again, when we start prepping for our winter partnership with Fleming College`s Museum Management and Curatorship students. So members of the Advisory Service, keep an eye on your inbox for a message that its your turn to benefit from this great partnership. We typically get around 300 database records reviewed, cleaned and researched for 10 museums through this project, and I can`t wait to see what information and improvements we see in the coming year.

Happy Holidays! Please note that the ANSM office will be closed for the holidays from Saturday December 15th through Tuesday January 1st. We will reopen on Wednesday January 2nd! We will be checking emails and phone messages regularly throughout the closure, but there will be a delay in response time.