Memento Database and the World Chronicle
Our first customer story to publish takes us to Bibliotheca Hertziana and
The Capitoline Museum (Musei Capitolini) both in Rome, Italy.
Klaus Werner works there and uses Memento Database to manage the database of the ongoing book restorations and the database if all items stored and exhibited in the Capitoline Museum.
He has been using the app for about 4 years by now and chose due to the ease of use for the end user & collaborative editing.
Klaus has switched to the team version of the app after a couple of weeks using Memento Database because of the robust import/export from CSV, enough field types for everyday use, and especially the possibility to use the database in a collaborative way:
The process is very simple
The admin (me) sets up the structure, and our (paid) collaborators put in the data. Normally we use Telegram to interact for any changes necessary in the database structure, add forgotten fields etc. or even how to insert difficult items. I have to be present all the time, but only online not necessarily physically.
Organizing teamwork — in 90% of all cases took about 5 minutes. Smooth as silk.
In 10% of cases it was useless — the specific person continued to work in Excel like it was still 1994. So that person was excluded from any further work.
Klaus shares the two main things about using Memento Database for his projects:
1)The speed of interaction. While the restaurateurs were working on a specific rare book, they sometimes encountered situations where the database didn’t reflect the real shelf number (background: the relational database consisted of two parts, one part was data to be filled in by the personnel, the other was a list of 20.000 rare books with titles and shelf numbers).
The contacted me via Telegram — maybe attaching an image — and in 2 minutes I had the database corrected and they (after a short syncro/refresh) could continue their work.
2) The ease of using the same tablet (or phablet) for data input and — at the same time — image taking. No need to take images with a separate camera and relate them in some way with the relevant data (renaming files and folders and that stuff).
Tremendous and unique work is done by these people in Bibliotheca Hertziana — Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte and the Capitoline Museum (Musei Capitolini). We are proud to be a part of it!
