Get your collections data online
If you are one of the many museums without a searchable collections catalogue on your website, MDS can save you the hassle and expense of getting your records online. You can simply link to our repository and let your users explore your collection there. Job done.
However, if you do also want to publish object records on your own site, in many cases your web developer may find it easier to source them via MDS than directly from your collections database.
Help people find and use your data
Even if your website does include a collections catalogue, potential users of your data will thank you for also sharing it with MDS. Put yourself in their shoes. Would you rather visit hundreds of museum websites one-by-one, or search across all those collections in one place?
Export once, share everywhere
Once you are set up in MDS, anyone else you want to share your data with – such as platforms like Art UK or external project partners – can come directly to us. No more preparing custom exports every time.
Or just share with your in-house team
We know many small museums find it hard to share collections data even with their own staff and volunteers, perhaps due to an old collection management system with just a single user licence. If that sounds like your museum, a first step might be to let MDS hold a copy of your data, and just give access to named members of your team. Then they can work on exhibitions and other projects without all crowding round a single desktop.
Back up your collections data
Your collections database is the result of countless hours of work over many years, and contains knowledge that would be hard to recapture if lost. You should have your own arrangements for backing this valuable data up, but MDS can also provide an extra level of backup. While this would be a copy of your exported records, rather than a full backup of your whole database, it would still be a useful last resort should the worst happen.