Hi y'all!

We're a group of high school students passionate in software engineering.

We want to build a Collections Management System (CMS) for small-medium museums with no dedicated IT departments upon the suggestion of our teachers and a friend whose aunt is in the field.

As part of our work flow, We are here to conduct research and collect User Stories to supplement the research we have done and further optimise the product's design.

Hence, if its not too much trouble. we would love for you to share your experience using existing CMSes. Details we need include but aren't limited to:

1. What type of Museum you run and its focus area.

1.The name of the CMS you are using(optional)

2. How do you use the CMS and what you use it for in your unique situation.

3. What features inside it you can't live without.

4. Challenges you faced using the CMS.

5. Features you wished were inside the CMS but aren't.

6. Anything else you think is really valuable to a good CMS for you or anything info you really wish to add.

Thank you folks for your time. Running a museum is hard, busy work and you even taking a few seconds of your day to read our post means the world to us. 🥰

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BC Wang
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This sounds like a cool project! I'd love to follow along because I'm working on something similar - building a new museum management system from scratch as a hobby. (I'm blogging it if you want to follow along and compare ideas!)

https://medium.com/@bobpritchett/a-future-for-the-past-f90c46bbd9ea

I started because my local museum uses PastPerfect 5 for their photo archive and the software is very awkward for searching and browsing. They have a huge photo collection but it's very difficult to search, and I'm told it's also awkward to edit and update. And while they're moving to the web version (which will at least mean I don't have to physically visit the photo archive the few hours a week it is open!) the PastPerfect galleries on other museum sites aren't inspiring.

I want fast browsing, find-as-you-type searching, and smart searching that can find things with poor metadata and terminology that varied over many years.

To its credit, PastPerfect seems to have very thorough field support and to be deeply grounded in museum processes and standards. It is used all over. It's just very difficult for museum patrons to explore, and the interface paradigms are a couple decades old. (The days of big screens full of forms and step-by-step query builders are over!)

My advice is to start from the workflow; learn what the museum staff (and patrons!) want to do and how they want to do it, and then design your tool to work they way they work. Software used to be designed around how the computer worked (the forms are literally the database structure rendered on screen), but we don't have to live that way anymore. 

The challenge for software engineers is to use what you know about how the computer works to make the computer work how the user does. That's what's new - and what AI and today's computing power allow. Most software products just haven't gotten there yet.

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Bob Pritchett
Bellingham WA
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Have you looked at the ones that already exist? CollectionBuilder? Omeka, Classic and S? CollectionSpace?

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Sharon Leon
Associate Professor
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI
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Interesting project!

1. I've mostly worked at history museums, though my last job was at a combined history/art museum, and am now at a living history museum with a substantial gallery collection.

2. Currently using CatalogIt, but I've also used PastPerfect (non-browser version), TMS (non-browser version), and SKINsoft.

3. Like most institutions, we use it to catalogue objects, search for them, and host them online.

4-6. CatalogIt is browser-based, and you're able to open multiple tabs and use them independently, which is a huge help to e.g. copying info from one record to another. The one upside of SKINsoft is that it also allows you to open multiple object records within the single browser tab where you've got it open. This is a critical need for any CMS. TMS and PastPerfect were a bit more of a struggle this way as I had to flip back and forth from one record to another. On the other hand, the visual layout of both of the latter programs - a dense grouping of fields laid out in logical ways, all easily accessible - was MUCH more preferable to me than the amount of scrolling and dropdown-opening CatalogIt requires. TMS also offers a good amount of customization anyone can do, and a lot more if you're willing to learn some xml/xslt, and I'm really missing that.

7. Users should be able to create their own report formats within the program - for instance, if you want to be able to export a spreadsheet with a media thumbnail, object number, object name, and description inserted into the first four columns for inventory purposes, you should be able to do so with minimal fuss. They should also be able to do at least a bit of reorganizing of fields to make sure the ones they want to use are near the front of the list/top of the page/etc.

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Cassidy Percoco
cpercoco@gcv.org
Curator of the John L. Wehle Gallery
Genesee Country Village and Museum
Mumford, NY
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Hi BC,

What a great project!  I'd like to see how I can help as I am a big proponent of making technology more accessible to the arts and museums in general.  I recently launched a audio guide authoring system called Audio Docent that uses AI to do all of the otherwise labor intensive work - drafting scripts, translating to multiple languages and recording voiceovers.  It would be great to integrate with a collections management system as I believe  multi-lingual audio should be attached to every piece in a museum's collection, at least those that are on display.  I know that others are layering AI on top of collection management systems to facilitate search and visitor exploration (see: TEMA Creative out of Israel).  I'm also interested in helping students gain practical experience through internships and other industry connections.  Let me know if you want to chat.  

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Michael Bendit, President
ArtTech Alliance (maker of Audio Docent)
https://audiodocent.com
Darien, CT
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I agree with Sharon...We use a version of Collective Access, which is an open source system.  We use it as part of a coalition of small to medium organizations (and some larger), so it was tailored to our needs.  It is called Connecticut Collections.  The thing I like the most is that it has a "public portal" option, which allows us to put all (or part) or our collections on line.  It also includes an archives module, so it really is all encompassing.

Here's the link to the Public Portal.  Connecticut Collections

Good luck, and it's always good to have options.

Best,

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JODI POLSGROVE
Curator of Collections
Connecticut SHPO Museums
Henry Whitfield State Museum, Old New-Gate Prison and Copper Mine
Prudence Crandall Museum, and Eric Sloane Museum
Connecticut Economic & Community Development
jodi.polsgrove@ct.gov
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Hi Jodi,

Thank you for sharing the link to Connecticut Collections. What a great idea!

-Amy

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[Amy] [Johnson]
[Curator of Collections]
[Indian Pueblo Cultural Center]
[Albuquerque] [NM]
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-13-2026 07:46 AM
From: Jodi Polsgrove
Subject: Open Source Collection Management System

I agree with Sharon...We use a version of Collective Access, which is an open source system.  We use it as part of a coalition of small to medium organizations (and some larger), so it was tailored to our needs.  It is called Connecticut Collections.  The thing I like the most is that it has a "public portal" option, which allows us to put all (or part) or our collections on line.  It also includes an archives module, so it really is all encompassing.

Here's the link to the Public Portal.  Connecticut Collections

Good luck, and it's always good to have options.

Best,

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JODI POLSGROVE
Curator of Collections
Connecticut SHPO Museums
Henry Whitfield State Museum, Old New-Gate Prison and Copper Mine
Prudence Crandall Museum, and Eric Sloane Museum
Connecticut Economic & Community Development
jodi.polsgrove@ct.gov
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BC:
You are entering a crowded landscape. Take a deep breath and dive in! You may find that extending an existing project through code and documentation is also a valid effort. Here are some resources that may help orient you and your classmates to what is out there.

• The Collection Management Systems Collection managed by Ashely Blewer will give you all a great sense of what has already been built and what is desired in a CMS:
  
  • Here is the link to the main list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cXOug3qM0pNNeD_wssiVEv9c0W1Y5I1VDTnSPTk7fb4/edit?usp=sharing
  • Here is the background blog post with more resource links: https://bits.ashleyblewer.com/blog/2017/08/09/collection-management-system-collection/
• This NYU guide referencing static site building tools like CollectionBuilder, Wax, Quire:
  • https://guides.nyu.edu/digital-humanities/tools-and-software/web-design-minimal-computing

Good luck! Second suggestions to look at CollectiveAccess and CollectionBuilder.

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Matthew Patulski
Digital Practioner
Grand Rapids MI
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