KE EMu - A Perspective Across Many Institutions Robin Green Registrar Lancashire County Museum Service UK

Lancashire County Museum Service We operate 12 museums and a commercial Conservation Service –4 “City/Town” Museums –2 Country Houses –2 Town Houses –2 Textile Mills –2 Maritime Museums – plus1 Castle and 2 Roman Bathhouses Museums owned by 6 different bodies

Lancashire County Museum Service Overall “Spend” £2.2M (US $3.7M) 244 staff, of which 70 full time (Very small) part of Education & Cultural Services Directorate Our “spend” less than their overspend!

Position at January 2000 Data spread over (then) 7 sites Free-standing PCs No network connections Out-dated software (Superbase) Unable to see whole collection or other sites Little consistency Paper records poor

Action (1) No funding! Consolidate existing data centrally Go window-shopping –MDA website –MDA conference Look for funding within Lancashire County Council

Support (1) Education Directorate ICT Team –Recognised previous lack of investment –Installed and paid for network connections at all sites (64kb dial-up) –Provided support for CMS specification and response evaluation –Provided part-funding for CMS –No strings attached E-Government Team –Balance of funding for CMS –Strings attached

Support (2) Internal Audit –Did not like what they saw –Wholly supportive –Highlighted lack of human and financial resources –Actively assisted in CMS evaluation –Helped us to select EMu –But, they came back later!

Network Options 1.Fully networked Client-Server –Not possible at all sites because of bandwidth limitations 2.Windows Terminal Server for remote sites –Over comes bandwidth problems –Needs an additional server 3.Local Servers updating to a single catalogue –More expensive –Needs a local server at each site

The Solution Central server Citrix Terminal Server for all sites –Preferred by Central IT team, but They had no expertise It needed an additional server Had to wait for consultant –In the end, it works!

EMu Configuration Bought system previously supplied to Manchester (University) Museum Did not fully meet our needs Needed second phase –Re-configure existing tabs –Design new tabs –Additional user licences –Data migration –Funded by Education Directorate!

Current Position Waiting for system upgrade + data migration + simultaneous move to new server. Only is use for selected subject areas Need to: –Train more staff –Work out procedure for Conservation Unit –Extend coverage to collections not owned, but managed, by Lancashire County Museum Service

In Conclusion We (nearly!) have a system that meets our needs We have (nearly!) worked out our procedures, written around EMu Somebody else paid for it We still have a lot to learn! The rest is up to the entire Museum Service team

Lancashire County Museum Service Robin Green (0)