The NZMuseums website is a place for all New Zealand museums to showcase their collections and activities to a global audience. It is a promotional tool as well as a museum directory, online collection management system, and a site for discussion and learning about museum issues and events.
Latest NZMuseums news
Museum profiles now have Google Maps
In time for summer, we’ve added Google Maps to all museum and gallery profiles on the NZMuseums website.
Getting online in a win-win way
Mark Holland, one of the NZMuseums website volunteers, did a placement assisting the Wanganui Collegiate School Museum to start getting their collection on NZMuseums.
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Getting started on NZMuseums
Profiling your museum and it's collection on NZMuseums is easy and full of benefits. Here's how to get started:
- Search for your museum or gallery on NZMuseums.
- If it is not on there, contact us.
- If your museum is on the site, request your login from us, with your login you will have access to edit your profile information, edit existing collection records, upload images, and create new collection records.
- You don’t have to use NZMuseums as your collection management system. You may just want to use it as a website presence and include up to date contact details and photos of your museum.
NZMuseums FAQs (PDF, 90.9kB)
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Using NZMuseums as an online collection management system
Once you have requested your museums login to eHive you can upload your collection by following the simple instructions on the eHive wiki, available for the world to see!
Initially it is best to upload a minimum of 20 items to your museums profile, otherwise your page is going to look very bare!
How much?
Up to 200 images, and related text is free. After that, licences are available for US$99 per year for 500 MB of space (up to 2,000 items) on NZMuseums. There are cheaper rates available for larger volumes of storage.
There is a grant for a one year licence fee that can assist you with the first year.
NZMuseums One Year License Fee Grant application form (DOC, 79kB)
How to get your collection online
The preferred method for getting your items onto NZMuseums is through the Museum Login on the website. However, if you don’t have an internet connection or have a large volume of information to convert, the easy to use spreadsheet provides an alternative.
For your items to be uploaded to the website, completed the spreadsheet below and send it on a CD with your images to:
NZMuseums Data
Vernon Systems Ltd
PO Box 6909
Auckland 1141
NZMuseum - How to get your collection online spreadsheet (XLS, 221kB)
Watch these how-to videos by eHive
'Information weaving' The Catlin's history online
A collection cataloguing and digitisation project is gathering momentum in The Catlins. Director, Kaaren Mitcalfe shares with us the journey so far.
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The 7 step plan for digitisation
The 7 step plan for digitisation has step by step instructions about starting your digitisation journey. It covers:
• forming your digitisation team
• what items to catalogue and a numbering system
• what information about each object that you need
Planning for digitisation 7 step guide (PDF, 102kB)
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Other opportunities on NZMuseums
Make your content more discoverable
We’re linking up with Digital New Zealand. This means your content can be more discoverable through all these websites. Here are a couple of examples of how it works.
We need your permission to allow your content to be shared, so contact us and tell us if you’re in. It’s free and you don’t have to do a thing.
Events
If your museum lists it’s events on EventFinder.co.nz they are automatically included on your NZMuseums website profile. As a member of EventFinder.co.nz you receive news about what's on, can share your favourite events and keep up with friends. And if you're running any events, you can add them to Eventfinder in an easy 1-2-3 step process. It is free to join EventFinder.co.nz to list your events, if you aren’t already, what are you waiting for?
Spotlight on a museum
If your museum has collection items on NZMuseums you can ‘Spotlight’ your museum on the homepage of the website. All we need is an article (300-500 words) and a photo or two. You could tell everyone about the history of your museum, or an object or collection of particular significance.
Blog
We have several active blogs on NZMuseums at the moment. They range from advice about fundraising at small museums to social media and sustainability in museums.
We would love you to write a blog for NZMuseums. It can be about anything to do with museums, museums on the web or digitisation please.
Don’t forget you can also leave comments on other blog entries.
News
Does your museum have some news that it wants to share? If you have then let us know and we will put it in News on NZMuseums.
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Do you have any queries?
For any technical queries use the eHive forum. It only takes a few seconds to register, and from there you can ask whatever questions you need to.
For all instructions and help on how to use eHive please go to the eHive wiki or contact us. If you have other questions about the process and the NZMuseums website, don't hesitate to contact us.
For instructions on how to use eHive visit the eHive wiki, email us or call 0508 678 743.
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