Gestion Informatique Documentaire

Online project : Victoria Art Gallery (VAG), Bath, UK

Can you introduce yourself ?
Helen Daniels, Collections Assistant at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath, UK.  I have used Micromusée databases at three different museums over the last eight years and I compiled and launched the Victoria Art Gallery’s ‘Collection Search’ database (OPACWeb) in spring 2007.

Can you make a brief description of your museum?
The Victoria Art Gallery is managed by Bath and North East Somerset Council.  The Gallery cares for and provides access to the art collection of the City of Bath and the surrounding area.  The Gallery opened in 1900 and the collection includes paintings, prints, drawings, ceramics, sculpture and glass, from the 17th – 21st centuries.  The collection is particularly strong in its holdings relating to Bath’s history as a fashionable spa town.  The Gallery is based in the centre of Bath, opens free of charge and displays its permanent collection as well as exhibitions which change every 6 - 8 weeks.

Do you have specific projects at the moment and how the online project is part of it?
The Gallery started digitising its collections in 1999.  The Gallery had always hoped to be able to improve public access to the collection records.  Until this year the Gallery had a small searchable database on its website but updating and expanding the system was costly as it was hosted and designed by an external company.  The OPACWeb system enables the Gallery to have a larger database for web users which is relatively easy to update and expand.  We will be adding more records to the system next year and hope, funds permitting, to install a public access kiosk so visitors can use the Collection Search facility in the Gallery itself.

How did you handle the online project?
As a starting point a batch of 500 records was selected to be published for the pilot database.  Most of the digital images for these pictures had already been prepared before the project started. 
Although the Gallery’s Micromusée database was unfamiliar to me at the start of the project I did have lots of experience of using the software in other museums.  Designing and building the OPACWeb database uses the same procedures as other Micromusée functions so it was crucial to have prior knowledge of the system. 
Having broken the project down into individual tasks, I prepared a timetable for the project and worked on the database for approximately two days each week for eight months.  This in-house work involved designing the page profiles, editing and inputting data, and reworking some of the key thesauri and hierarchies in the Micromusée database. 
In addition I was supported by a member of the Council’s IT Team who worked with the Mobydoc team to install and configure the server and web pages.  Mobydoc supported us throughout the project and provided four days’ training and installation.  The project was funded internally.