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From 1989 to 1999 the DAC collection catalog was maintained in HyperCard, an authoring application. In the late 1990s we developed an interim collections database management system in-house (due to functional needs, legacy data issues, and the cost and feature sets of off-the-shelf museum software then available). Since migrating to that system and bringing it live as our operational database in 2000, it has provided a reliable, secure, and flexible environment for standardizing the information it contains, while supporting collections-related museum work on the premises.
This current system is accessible only at the DAC, where it supports museum staff, faculty, and student access for teaching, research, exhibitions, collections management, and other operations. We are now migrating to a new collections management system developed and supported by a leading vendor in that product space. The new system will provide a more sustainable model for future system development and many behind-the-scenes improvements. It also will export selected data to a separate server for public access via this website; as that work proceeds, updates about access will appear here.
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