Chris Bailey, NIMC Chris Delaney, WMF Jane Robinson, MGS

1. The MICHAEL project in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland Chris Bailey, NIMC Chris Delaney, WMF Jane Robinson, MGS

2. Northern Ireland

3. Methodology Partnership with University of Ulster Achievements Existing records 38 Museums 48 Digital resources and services

4. Issues arising Priorities Standards Types Where to now? Other collections Sustainability

5. On line Museum Collections in Wales

6. The MICHAEL Project in Wales No Welsh Museums on the MICHAEL site MLA provided a grant to the Federation of Museums in Wales to encourage Welsh museums to become part of the MICHAEL project.

7. The Purpose of the Wales Project • Increase the number of digital collections and services from Wales catalogued in MICHAEL • Promote the project to institutions in Wales • Increase the Welsh language contents of the MICHAEL UK database

8. Methodology • 93 Registered/Accredited museums in Wales • A desk top assessment of Welsh museum web sites was undertaken • The data was entered into a questionnaire format. • Each museum was then contacted to validate and update the data. • We failed to verify and upgrade data for only 3 museums.

9. Grading system for museum web sites developed A * site is basically an on line leaflet with visitor information and a brief collection overview. A** site is as before, with good collection overviews. A*** site is as before, with substantial details about the collection, but not an on line catalogue. A **** site is as before, with all or elements of the collection available on line. This may include detailed descriptions of items, images and a search facility.

10. The project identified 14 *** and **** sites and 11 of these were selected for inclusion on the MICHAEL site. The museums identified were:- The Egypt Centre, Swansea The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea Swansea Museum Gwynedd Museum and Art Gallery, Bangor Lloyd George Museum, Llanystumdwy, Criccieth Talyllyn Railway, Tywyn Cynon Valley Museum Cyfarthfa Castle , Merthyr Glamorgan College of Art Ceredigion Museum, Aberystwyth Regimental Museum, 1st The Queens Dragoon Guards, Cardiff

11. The other three sites are *** sites about to undergo a major upgrading The Ceramics Gallery U.C. Aberystwyth School of Art Gallery and Museum Aberystwyth Amgueddfa Cymru is a *** site, the other 6 National Museum Wales sites are * sites.

12. The remaining sites 8 museums do not have web sites 6 museums are ** sites 65 are * sites 70% of museum web sites in Wales are a leaflet on line. most museums plan to put collections on line in the next 2 to 3 years. most museums have electronic data bases many still have paper based systems and no resources to transfer them into a computerised system. CyMAL have grant aiding documentation and access projects, which are speeding up this process.

13. Software Modes or its various forms is the most popular software used by 39 museums 18 museums use CALM The National Museum Wales and the National Trust have their own software. 11 use Access/MUSIMS/Lotus/Filemaker 4 museums have only a paper based system.

14. Issues Identified weaknesses Funding the documentation backlog A Museum Strategy for Wales Museums Portal/Historic Wales/Archives Network Distributed National Collections

15. Scotland

16. MICHAEL Project – Scottish participation

17. Scottish participation Museums Galleries Scotland is the lead body for the funding, development and advocacy of over 340 museums and galleries in Scotland. Our corporate aims cover five broad areas: advocacy, development, customer services, evidencing policy and partnership. Our aim in participating in the MICHAEL project in 2007-8 was to encourage development around digital collections.

18. Museums Galleries Scotland’s Digital Content Action Framework

19. Scottish collections in MICHAEL • 21 digital collection records created • 3 existing entries validated,10 tidied • 11 new collections brought in…….with more in the pipeline

23. Jane Robinson Head of Museum Development janer@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk