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PastPerfect
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Wish You Were Here! Drawing - Enter to win FREE Support for a year! To Unsubscribe: www.museumsoftware.com/newunsubscribe.htm 1. Enter to win FREE Support for a year! This
section is for email newsletter recipients only. 2. Share your Collection with the World with PastPerfect-Online! PastPerfect-Online is a great tool for your institution to share its collection with the world! With PastPerfect-Online, you can create a searchable online database of PastPerfect data in just a few simple steps! PastPerfect-Online is powered by proven MWeb™ search technology and is capable of providing online access to hundreds of thousands of records. Search capabilities such as Random Images and Click & Search allow users to quickly and efficiently research your collection. PastPerfect-Online also includes a watermarking feature, keeping your online images secure. The PastPerfect-Online setup fee is $248, with annual hosting starting at $410 for 10,000 records. AASLH Institutional Members receive a discounted rate of $199 for PastPerfect-Online setup and annual hosting starting at $329 for 10,000 records. Check out www.pastperfect-online.com for more information and to view collections from PastPerfect Online users including the Jewish Museum of Maryland, the Portsmouth Athenaeum, and the Galax Public Library! 3. 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. Chicago,
IL Arvada,
CO Indianapolis,
IN Great
Falls, MT Corsicana,
TX Syracuse,
NY East
Lansing, MI Lexington,
KY Richmond,
VA Be sure to check out our website at www.museumsoftware.com/training.htm for additional training dates and other information!
4. 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 1-800-562-6080 or by e-mail at support@museumsoftware.com. PastPerfect Version 4- New Update Available 4.0C4 The new update now available for PastPerfect version 4 is 4.0C4. New features in this update include: * Ability
to add fields: firstname, lastname, greeting, address1, address2, city,
state and zip to the Dues by Membership Type Report 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 Pastime Software can better serve our customers. 5.
Look who's using PastPerfect and PastPerfect-Online: Galax Public Library,
Galax, VA The city of Galax, Virginia, is having its 100th birthday this year, and the Galax Public Library is using PastPerfect to catalog and record some of the city's oldest and favorite memories. Much of the local color and spirit survives in the sons and daughters of Galax's founders and forefathers, but as time passes, names, dates and stories fade from memory and are lost forever. The Galax Public Library is using PastPerfect to preserve the past and to keep some of the city's legendary stories alive. Community members have provided the Galax Public Library with photographs, which are great visual reminders of stories and events in Galax's past. Each donor has also shared great memories of the times and places the photographs were taken. While many people remember different things about community events, the library's goal is to record as much information as they can about each event to create a consensus story to include with each photograph. Pamela Russell, the library's PastPerfect Project Director, says that she has met some very interesting people during this project, and has enjoyed learning more about the people and events that shaped the city. Pamela says that she has found PastPerfect to be very user friendly for the Centennial Project, and is enjoying the ease with which Past Perfect-Online has integrated everything together and put it into an easily accessed and navigated format. To view more information about Galax Public Library's Centennial Celebration, go to their website at http://galaxcarroll.lib.va.us/. You can also view their Centennial photographic collection by going to http://galax.pastperfect-online.com/. 6. Tip of the Month: More Information about Backing Up to CD In the March newsletter, the "Tip of the Month" addressed backing up data and images to CD-R versus CD-RW by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each. As a follow up, we have a few additional suggestions for storing and labeling your CD backup discs. When storing CD backup discs please make sure that, like your collections, the backup discs are stored in a dry environment with a constant temperature. A study by the Library of Congress revealed that extreme heat and cold can have damaging effects on CDs and can cause them to be unreadable in the future (Manns and Shahani, 2003). It is also a good idea to have a backup copy of your data and images on CD stored in an offsite location, such as a staff member's home or safe deposit box, in case disaster happens at the museum. If possible, keep the backup discs inside a protective plastic case, such as a jewel case described as a "transparent plastic case with hinged lid,"as this will help minimize the chances of scratching (Byers, 2003). Most people know to take care not to scratch the bottom of the disc that is read by the computer; however it is also important to keep in mind that scratches on the label side of the disc can be just as harmful and can hinder the readability of the CD by the computer. When labeling your CDs, it is suggested to write by hand along the inner "Mirror" band of the CD using a felt tip pen or marker. This is the band surrounding the central hole that can not be written to by your computer. Always use a felt tip pen such as a Sharpie marker when labeling your CD. Pens with metallic ink or ball points can damage or scratch the layer of the CD that stores the data. Please note that if you adhere a label to your CD, over time exposure to heat can cause that label to peel off the disc, which can, in some cases, peel the data layer off the CD, making it unreadable (Byers, 2003). DVDs are another option for storing backups of your data and images. They store more information than CDs (typically 4.2 GB, whereas a CD-R or CD-RW typically holds between 650-700MB), and also have the layer that stores the data between two layers of polycarbonate (Byers, 2003). This means that the layer that stores the data in DVD-R and DVD-RW discs is slightly more protected than CD-R or CD-RW discs. There is a lot you can do to ensure your PastPerfect data and images are safe and available in case of disaster. Backing up to CD or DVD weekly can save hours of data re-entry and frustration. If you have questions, please feel free to contact the Support Office, or learn more by visiting the references below: Sources:
Cochrane, Katherine. "Is there a CD-R Media Problem?" CD-ROM Professional. February 1996. http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/Media/problem.html Manns, Basil and Shahani, Chandru J. "Longevity of CD Media, Research at the Library of Congress." Library of Congress, Washington, DC. September 2003. http://www.loc.gov/preserv/studyofCDlongevity.pdf Trock,
Jacob. "Permanence of CD-R Media." The Royal Danish Academy
of Fine Arts, School of Conservation. Date Unknown. http://media.images.dk/earkiv.nsf/doc/permanence
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