The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was established in 1965, and within a short time became the most comprehensive art and archeology museum in the Middle East. The museum includes more than 500,000 art, archaeological, ethnographic and Judaica items, representing the world’s cultures from their beginning, 10 million years ago, until now.

The Need

Each department in the Israel Museum has its own database. The various departments (Ethnography, Modern Art, Judaica, Prehistoric Period, etc.) include approximately 40 types of material, and each department uses a separate material type for its item cards. In 2002, the Israel Museum sought out a company that could integrate the museum’s collections, which were computerized with different software applications (Excel, Access, Ex Libris and others). After examining a number of solutions, the museum chose IDEA Information Systems, because its system met a series of requirements, including multilingual capabilities, flexibility in managing fields and material types, and local support.

The Solution

IDEA@Muse – a unique solution for managing collections, displays and digital assets in museums. The system includes specific management tools that meet the needs of each department’s professional team (curators, service departments, archives, information centers, libraries, etc.). The system provides the museum’s personnel and visitors with fast and simple access to the information they need.

Implementation

Using IDEA@Muse, multilingual capabilities were implemented at the Israel Museum, enabling Hebrew and English cataloging of each item. Each curator received cataloging and search authorization only in his or her department’s database. Today, approximately 200,000 records have already been cataloged, and most of the museum’s departments use IDEA’s system. The goal is for the system to include 500,000 items, with 50,000 of them displayed on the museum’s Intranet, and 5,000 displayed to the public on the museum’s website.

The Benefit

IDEA@Muse enables cataloging, managing and tracking each item in the museum, the library and the archives. The system’s advanced capabilities include multilingual interfaces; links to exhibitions, labs and photographs; lists with images of the items; and flexible definitions of authorization groups for the various items and fields.

IDEA’s museum management system positions the Israel Museum among the world’s most technologically advanced museums.

The Technology

IDEA@Muse for museums, IDEA Internet module, IDEA Multi Lingual module, IDEA Log module, Microsoft SQL Server.

“The museum is now benefiting from IDEA@Muse and a single database, enabling orderly and efficient management of the museum’s collections” .
Doron Eisenhamer, Manager of Computer and Information Systems Department Israel Museum