Spring 2024

More PPO training is on the way with several lunchtime lectures planned this year! Keep reading for the initial announcement and be sure to keep an eye on upcoming newsletters for registration links.

Check out previous videos at https://museumsoftware.com/ppotraining if you missed the last series.

Tech Tip: Troubleshooting Uploads

After updating the records and images on your PastPerfect Online site, it is good practice to visit your site to confirm you see your edits or new additions.

While our team is always happy to help, here are a few things you can check if you have trouble outside of our office hours:

• Have files finished loading to your site? A confirmation email will be sent to your PPO Admin Contact once all the records have finished loading. Images often take longer to load due to their larger size. You can check the progress of your image loads by going to “My Image Loads” in IMS.
• Is the record or image selected to be shared online? The “Include in Web Export” checkbox on the catalog record or on the Image Metadata screen must be checked for the record or image to be included on your site.
• Is the field selected to be shared online? Fields are chosen in the “Select Data Fields to Include” step of the Web Publishing Wizard. There are separate tabs for each record type, so be sure to confirm you have selected the field in the appropriate tab.
• Were new web files created? Clicking the “Create Files Now” button on the “Create Web Publishing Files” step of the Web Publishing Wizard is necessary to generate updated data to be loaded to your site.
• Were the new web files published? After creating files, the “Upload Data and Images to Website” button on the “Publish Files to Web” step of the Web Publishing Wizard must be clicked to send this updated information to your website.
• Did the Create and Upload steps take place on the same computer? These two steps must be done from the same workstation for the most up-to-date files to be sent to your site.

If you aren't seeing your latest changes on your site, please reach out and we will take a closer look with you.

Lunchtime Lecture Training Series

Are you using your PastPerfect Online site to its full potential? Brush up on your PastPerfect Online knowledge by joining Allison and Demi for our free Lunchtime Lectures. Watch, listen, and learn as they review some PastPerfect Online basics and demonstrate ways to improve your PastPerfect Online site. Each lecture will end with a Q&A session. We hope to see you there!

Our series last fall covered the PastPerfect side of sharing your records and images. This summer, we will pick back up with two sessions all about searching: the various search options available, how to perform more complex searches, exploring and modifying search results, and a few ways to help guide web visitors through searching your site.

Understanding Your Search Options: June 17, 2024 @ 12pm Eastern

Learn about each of the methods available to search your site. We will cover the different search operators available to further narrow your results, as well as show where on your site you can provide search tips to your visitors to explain this functionality.

Search Result Modifications in IMS: June 24, 2024 @ 12pm Eastern

Following up on the previous session, we will demonstrate how to use the Interface Management Site to change settings for your site’s Keyword Search, Search by Term, Advanced Search, and Catalog Search functions. Learn how to edit your search tips and use the built-in search reporter to see the most popular searches on your site. We will also discuss how Quick Links can be added to your site, helping you to highlight specific records and collections for your visitors.

We will also have a standalone session this summer about sharing media files on your site with a date to be announced. Registration links for all three of these webinars will be included in the next PPO newsletter on June 5th. We will send recorded video links to all registrants after each session, so we invite you to sign up even if you are unable to attend live.

Our final lectures for this year will take place in September and will cover all changes that can be made to the look and feel of your site using the Interface Management Site (IMS). More details about these sessions will be announced in the June newsletter.

Staff Pick

We are asking each of our staff to choose a favorite item from one of the many online collections. This artifact was selected from the online collection of the Gunn Memorial Library & Museum by Kate because:

"My mom and I always get distracted by kitchen gadgets when we shop, so we both have multiple versions of potato mashers. This one from the Gunn Memorial Library & Museum collection looks a lot more efficient than the one I have!”

Applications for the Publishing Historical Records in Collaborative Digital Editions grant, offered by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), are currently open. The deadline to apply is May 8, 2024. There is also a second deadline option with a draft due by August 15, 2024, and a final deadline of November 7, 2024.

The NHPRC seeks proposals to publish online editions of historical records. All types of historical records are eligible, including documents, photographs, born-digital records, and analog audio. The goal of this program is to provide access to, and editorial context for, the historical documents and records that tell the American story.

Guidelines for this grant are available at https://www.archives.gov/nhprc/announcement/editions.html.

Applications for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources (HCRR) grant, offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), are expected to be available April 16, 2024. The currently anticipated deadline to apply is July 16, 2024. 

HCRR advances scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities by helping libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country steward important collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art and material culture, and digital objects.

As the cycle approaches, guidelines for this grant will be available at https://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/humanities-collections-and-reference-resources. Until then, you can review the guidelines from last year on this page for an idea of what the application process is like. 

The Loveland Museum

Customs House Museum & Cultural Center

La Napoule Art Foundation