NZMuseums: Showcasing the collections of all New Zealand museums

NZMuseums website www.nzmuseums.co.nz Showcasing the collections of all New Zealand museums
Pamela Lovis on behalf of National Services Te Paerangi, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Paul Rowe, Vernon Systems Ltd
Museums and the Web, Indianapolis, 18 April, 2009

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa www.tepapa.govt.nz

National Services Te Paerangi The team on the Our Space map at Te Papa www.nationalservices.tepapa.govt.nz

How we help He Rauemi Resource Guides 0508 freephone helpline

Training and professional development Marae based workshops Workshops for museums at regional and national level

The NZMuseums website
Focal point for all New Zealand museums
National Services Te Paerangi (NSTP) administers the site
Vernon Systems is the solution provider www.nzmuseums.co.nz

Redevelopment
Live on 17 September 2008
Museum profile page
Highlights of their collections
Built on top of a collections management system

Questions for the website to address
What needs to be in place for small museums to contribute?
How can a portal for many museums be built with limited resources?
What features in the website would encourage re-use of the data?

The original NZMuseums website
The existing website was built in 1997 and was looking tired ...

Museum detail page

Redevelopment was needed
Metropolitan and regional museums had good web presences, but what about the small museums?
More dynamic and visually appealing website
Include collection information
Involve the public through tagging and making comments

Research
2002 report: “Museums Online: Finding Museums everywhere”
“ few [New Zealand] museums have their resources in a state that they could contribute to an on-line collections database”
2003 report: “Online collection development options for New Zealand Museums”
85% would like to add information on some of their collection items to the site
2008 survey results
There’s a lot of small museums
80% have five or less full-time staff

Focus groups Three regional focus groups organised in 2006:
Volunteers are key - museums depend on them and they often change - keep in simple
Time and resources are often in short supply - keep costs low
Many museums are in remote areas and do not have fast internet connections
It’s common to have reservations over content being on the Internet

How did we promote involvement to the sector
NSTP e-alerts and e-newsletters
Museum Development Officers out in the field
Minimum of 20 items for placement on the site
An online forum

Engaging museums through training
NSTP engaged in Photography training
Regional workshops were held on:
Collections cataloguing
Digitisation
Photography for the web

Benefits for small museums
Reduce the barriers to achieving a web presence
Unified approach across New Zealand
Entry point into simple collections management
Minimal cost and expertise required
Greater visibility for museums and their collections
Website allows self-service of information requests
Motueka Museum

Addressing institutional fears
Contributors had the option of watermarking
Finding objects through tags increases access
An online presence helps reach a wider, more diverse, audience
Russell Museum Te Whare Taonga O Kororareka

eHive collection management system
Within eHive , each contributor has their own login to create and edit content and upload images

Excel Import Spreadsheet

Content Sharing
Museum and collection item information is entered and updated through the eHive CMS
NZMuseums is a community within eHive comprising of just museums within New Zealand
Objects marked as belonging to the NZMuseums community appear on www.nzmuseums.co.nz

Tips for success
Use Open Source software where possible
Use existing online forum and communication networks to avoid answering the same question many times
Use a subscription model to cover operating costs
Give ample warning to the contributors
Set realistic goals – cataloguing 20 items was a big deal for many smaller museums
Keep things simple – any computer work was new territory for some
Support for data exchange standards is needed for collaboration with other sites
Encourage public involvement – the data gets enriched helping others to discover it

NZMuseums now
386 museums are represented on the site
56 museums have added highlights of their collection
90% of these collection items not previously available on the Internet
99% of collection records have images
Google Analytics used to track site visitors
30,000 visits
Tags and comments added daily

Case Study: Raglan Museum “ Using the NZMuseums website as motivation, we narrowed our selection down to 100 artefacts, took the digital photographs, and researched what we could in the time available.” “ We have found the NZMuseums web site to be very useful, and a great way to display our collections to a much wider audience. Local people have shown more interest since having seen their museum on the Internet, and tourists are able to access it ahead of their stay.“ Roslyn Miles, Administrator, Raglan Museum, wrote about her experience with the project: Raglan Museum’s profile page on NZMuseums

Future Plans
Virtual exhibitions created by museums and public
Google Maps for museum locations
Integrate with NZLive for museum event information
Write stories which link to specific museums or collection items
NZLive.com

Contact us
National Services Te Paerangi [email_address] 64 4 381 7121 www.nationalservices.tepapa.govt.nz
Vernon Systems Ltd [email_address] 64 9 815 5599 www.vernonsystems.com
Images: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

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NZMuseums: Showcasing the collections of all New Zealand museums

by museums and the web on Apr 27, 2009

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NZMuseums: Showcasing the collections of all New Zealand museums Presentation Transcript