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PastPerfect
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To Unsubscribe: www.museumsoftware.com/newunsubscribe.htm 1. PastPerfect Training Classes are coming to your area! The 2006 Training Classes are well under way! As more dates and locations are scheduled, they will be added to the listing below. To find out more information about the scheduled training classes or to inquire about possibly scheduling a session in your area, please contact our Training Coordinator, Amy Dunn, by phone at 610-304-0973 or by e-mail at training@museumsoftware.com. St. Helena, CA Hosted by the St. Helena Historical Society at the St. Helena Elementary School March 14-16 Memphis, TN Hosted by Delta Axis March 21-23 Woodstock, VT Hosted by the Billings Farm & Museum and Co-Hosted by the Vermont Museum & Gallery Alliance March 27-30 Chicago, IL Hosted by the Cambodian American Heritage Museum May 9-11 Arvada, CO Co-hosted by the Arvada Historical Society and the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities at the historic Flour Mill May 16-18 Indianapolis, IN Hosted by the Indiana Historical Society and Co-Sponsored by the Association of Indiana Museums May 23-25 Great Falls, MT C. M. Russell Museum June 6-8 Corsicana, TX Hosted by the Pearce Collection at Navarro College June 20-22 Syracuse, NY Hosted by CXtec July 18-20 East Lansing, MI Hosted by the Historical Society of Michigan July 25-28 (Info Session on the 24th from 1pm to 3pm) Richmond, VA Hosted by the County of Henrico Division of Recreation & State Parks October 31- November 2 Be sure to check out our website at www.museumsoftware.com/training.htm for additional training dates and other information! 2. Free Updates for PastPerfect Museum Software! Did you know updates are available from our website for your PastPerfect Museum Software version 4.0? These free updates are released every two months or so and are available for download by going to this page on our website: www.museumsoftware.com/software_updates.htm . If you would rather receive a free update CD, please contact our Support Office toll-free, at 800-562-6080 or by e-mail at support@museumsoftware.com. PastPerfect Version 4- Current Update Available 4.0C3 The current update now available for PastPerfect version 4 is 4.0C3. New features in this update include: * Ability to add Multi-media links to Exhibit records * Add fields: activity, campaign#, campaign name, and pledge# to Excel export of Donations by Fund or Date Range report * Add new dues payment interval of "Bi-Annual" * Add year 2006 to dues and donation summary display * Command to calculate insured value of all items on an Incoming Loan * Display message if user attempts to add objectid that exists in deaccession * Include accession and exhibit records on multimedia links report * Include insured value of catalog record on the mini screen from Accessions and Incoming Loans * In-Kind gifts file is available in report maker * New export to Excel/HTML option includes unlimited memo data * New Membership Renewal Report * New security option to restrict access to the Dublin Core command at bottom of catalog screen * Option to add multiple authority file entries to the Author Added Entry field * Option to add "title" and "outdate" fields to outgoing Items on Loan report * Option to export Dues Receipts by Membership Type report to Excel * Option to export Pledges by Campaign or Date Range report to Excel * Save setting for "Type of Search" on Keyword Search Screen * Allow FTP of a range of selected images folders for PastPerfect Online * Add move bar to easily re-arrange order of web export fields for PastPerfect Online * Option for automatic watermark of images for PastPerfect Online If you have comments or suggestions for PastPerfect version 4, please e-mail your ideas to suggestions@museumsoftware.com. We are eager to hear your comments and learn ways that PastPerfect can better serve our users. 3. Look Who's Using PastPerfect! * The Jewish Museum of Maryland* Special thanks to Jobi Zink, Registrar & Curatorial Associate, for writing this month's feature of Look Who's Using PastPerfect! The Jewish Museum of Maryland has the largest single collection of regional Jewish Americana in the United States. Our collections include works of art, historical photographs, clothing, ceremonial items, rare books, everyday objects, documents, oral histories, and memorabilia. The collections embody the story of Jewish life in Maryland - immigration, family history, business, congregational and organizational life, leisure, consumption, and contemporary culture. The JMM collections and scholarly research inform our exhibitions, programs, and publications. The JMM has been using Past Perfect since 2002 for both collections management and membership. We just upgraded to version 4.0 in January and the administrative staff is already using the new fund-raising features! We are continuing to add digital images to the database so that staff and researchers can access the collection without actually handling the materials. At last count we had 42% of the objects and catalogued photographs scanned in. We are also using the Exhibits database to flag items for upcoming exhibitions without actually moving them. The JMM is thrilled to be using PastPerfect-Online, powered by Mweb, to host our on-line collections database! The collections staff loves the myriad of search options, customized access to specific fields, and the thumbnail images that are pulled up during searches. The "Random Images" is a great feature to introduce researchers and visitors to the variety of local history items that we collect. Our online collection is available to the public 24/7 at http://jmm.pastperfect-online.com. You can learn more about the Jewish Museum of Maryland at www.jewishmuseummd.org! 4. Tip of the Month- Backing up CD-Rs or CD-RWs? Which are better? In the Support Office, we are often asked if it is better to use a CD-R (writeable) or CD-RW (re-writeable) to backup PastPerfect data and images. We recommend using CD-R discs instead of CD-RW discs to backup your PastPerfect data, images and multimedia files. We found CD-R discs are available for the equivalent of $.23 - $.28 a piece (we purchased 100 discs at Sam's Club for $23.00). Meaning, if you backup your PastPerfect data, images and multimedia (version 4) files to a different CD-R disc once a week, you'll have approximately 2 years worth of CD backups for under $30. This cost is minimal in comparison to the hours it takes a data entry person to re-enter lost data. There are several benefits to using CD-R discs as opposed to CD-RW discs for backing up your PastPerfect files. * The greatest benefit of using CD-R discs is that they can be written to once. If you backup your data to CD-R, it cannot be erased or overwritten with other information and your PastPerfect backup archive begins. * Since data is written once, CD-Rs do not wear out over time like CD-RW discs. CD-RWs have a limited lifespan, thus we do not recommend using the same CD-RW disc each time you backup your data, images and multimedia files from PastPerfect. Be careful! If you are continuing to write to the same CD-RW disc each time you backup your data, images & multimedia files, then you are overwriting previous backups. You would not be able to reference earlier backups in the event of data loss. By the time you realize that you have a problem, your CD-RW backup may have already been overwritten. In short, using CD-R discs to backup your data, images and multimedia files is safer and more economical than using CD-RWs. By creating your "CD-R backup archive" you will be certain that your PastPerfect data, images and multimedia files are secure. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Support Office, toll free at (800) 562-6080! 5. Contact Information Address: 300 North Pottstown Pike, Suite 200 Exton, PA 19341 Website: www.MuseumSoftware.com Sales & Product Info: 800-562-6080 or sales@museumsoftware.com Support: 800-562-6080 or support@museumsoftware.com Training: 610-304-0973 or training@museumsoftware.com Data Conversions: 800-562-6080 or conversions@museumsoftware.com To Unsubscribe: www.museumsoftware.com/newunsubscribe.htm |
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