PastPerfect Newsletter October/November 20091. What's New - We've reached a milestone - 7000 customers! 2. Special Offer - Combined Training CD Package 3. Website Resources - Downloads 4. Training Opportunities - "Cataloging Your Collection" Online Class, November 4-6 5. Client Spotlight - Winner of our Compaq Presario Laptop 6. Report Highlight - Collection Value and Location Value Reports 1. What's New - We've reached a milestone - 7000 customers! The Monclova Historical Foundation in Monclova, Ohio, purchased the 7000th PastPerfect program last week. As the 7000th customer, they received a free first year Annual Support Contract and all three training CDs. Please check our December/January issue for the Foundation's Client Spotlight. As we achieve this important goal, we at PastPerfect Software want to express our gratitude to the museum community. Your suggestions and questions over the years have made our software and support team better. We have come a long way from our founding by Rick Hilton and Mary Parr in 1996. They started with their combined computer programming knowledge, business acumen, and understanding of museum collection management, archaeology, and library informatics to build software for the Kona Historical Society in Hawaii. Reinforced by input from experts in archaeology, archival record management, natural history, geology, library science, and other specialties, PastPerfect has grown to become the most widely used collections management software. We added contacts management and were able to offer fully integrated software to the community. We thank YOU for making PastPerfect what it is today. 2. Special Offer - Combined Training CD Package Our 7000 milestone gives us an opportunity to celebrate and thank all of our clients. We are pleased to offer a combined package of all three training CDs at the greatly discounted price of $70.00. Shipping by the U.S. Postal Service is FREE.
These CDs are useful whether you are just getting started with PastPerfect, need a quick and convenient referesher course, or want an affordable and consistent training tool for new volunteers and staff. The lessons may be played at just about any computer, anywhere and anytime. Please call us toll free 1-800-562-6080 to take advantage of this limited time offer. The sale ends December 31, 2009. 3. Website Resources - Downloads Did you know that our website (www.MuseumSoftware.com) offers lots of free information and assistance? From the Downloads page, you can find PastPerfect 4.0 User's Guide chapters as well as Version 2.5, 3.5 and PastPerfect-Online User's Guides. The Guides include step-by-step instructions, helpful hints, and tutorials. Information sheets for upgrade products give you overviews of the features they add to the software. Field Descriptions list all fields by catalog and provide definitions. They also contain field names, types and lengths. Data Entry forms are great if you have staff and volunteers who want to start cataloging on paper. These printable forms contain PastPerfect field names and spaces to write information. This makes the job easier for data entry staff. Other downloads include the Artefacts Canada Export for Canadian clients, mailmerge instructions when using MS-Word, and the Dublin Core data map. PastPerfect Tip: Becoming familiar with field descriptions helps you work smarter day-to-day entering data, modifying reports, and building filter statements. They are available at our website and right in the software's Reports section. You can also always find field definitions by pressing F1 when your cursor is in any catalog record field. Here are a couple of examples to help you learn field names and types. [objectid:c(25)] [earlydate:n(4)] 4. Training Opportunities - "Cataloging Your Collection" Online Class, November 4-6 Have you wanted to attend a regional training, but were unable to travel to a class or spend an entire day or two away from the museum? PastPerfect has the answer! Due to popular demand, PastPerfect Training is pleased to announce that a new online class, “Cataloging Your Collection with PastPerfect 4.0” has been scheduled for November 4-6, 2009 12:30PM - 3:00PM Eastern (9:30AM - 12:00PM Pacific). An experienced PastPerfect Trainer will demonstrate how to use PastPerfect to its full potential. You will be able to see the trainer’s PastPerfect program on your own computer and hear the trainer online or over a conference call. “Cataloging Your Collections Using PastPerfect 4.0” provides useful guidelines for cataloging and researching your collection. You will learn how to automate many of the repetitive tasks, maintain a professional and consistent standard of data entry, and attach Digital Images using the optional MultiMedia Upgrade to enhance your catalog records. Online Training classes are priced at $69.00/person for AASLH Institutional Members ($86.25/person for non-members). Attendees will receive a FREE copy of the "Cataloging Your Collection with PastPerfect 4.0." training CD, which serves as a great follow-up to the class. Seats for this class are limited, so please call us toll free at 1-800-562-6080 to sign up. For more information about PastPerfect Training opportunities, please visit our Training webpage at www.museumsoftware.com/training.shtml. 5. Client Spotlight - Winner of the Compaq Presario Laptop from the AASLH Conference Thank you to Bob Wolz, Executive Director, for contributing this article. The Harry S. Truman Little White House is a historic house museum in Key West, Florida. Harry S. Truman chose it as his vacation venue of choice from 1946 to 1952 spending 175 days of his presidency here and using it as the functioning White House of America. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy also used it for official business and Presidents Taft, Carter and Clinton found it a peaceful retreat. The site is owned by the state and required to complete systematic inventories of the collections. A 2002 decision was made to completely re-accession the entire collection of furniture, household and political objects, clothing, photographs and library. We chose PastPerfect for its outstanding capabilities and its reasonable price and have been extremely pleased with the support we received ever since. Student interns are going to add a photo of each object to the catalog in the coming winter months. The director loves the membership tracking capabilities and donations of objects and cash are easily listed. Thanks for the new computer and for all you do for the museum community. 6. Report Highlight - Collection Value and Location Value Reports Periodically museums report collection items and their values to insurers to make certain they have adequate coverage. The information should include a list of all items simply stated and a scheduled or fair market value for each. PastPerfect has fields to track acquisition value, insured value and the current minimum and maximum values. The object name and all four value fields are included in the Collection Value and Location Value Reports. Both reports allow you to create a list of all items from the Objects, Photos, Archives and Library catalogs. You can narrow the list by catalog as well as exclude deaccessioned or borrowed items. The Collection Value Report lists items by object ID, object name, value at acquisition and current value. The report also includes the date on which the current value was assigned. You may include all items or narrow to items from one collection. You can also limit the list to items that have a specified or higher value. The Location Value Report contains the same fields as the Collection Value Report. You can run this list with all items or by specified home location. This report may include items without values or narrow the list to items with data in one of the value fields. To access these reports, from the Main Menu click Reports and select All four catalogs. If you have any questions, please contact us by emailing support@museumsoftware.com or call toll free 1-800-562-6080. Address: 300 North Pottstown Pike, Suite 200, Exton, PA 19341 To unsubscribe: www.museumsoftware.com/newsremoveform.php or email news@museumsoftware.com |
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