Integrating Collections Management Information into Online Exhibits: The World Wide Web as a Facilitator for Linking Two Separat

Historically, automation for exhibition and for collection management have developed along very distinct and independent paths, with different sets of vendors, software, tools, and platforms as well as no possibility of integration. The Worldwide Web offers the possibility of linking collection management information to interactive exhibitions, overlaying the narrative structure of exhibitions onto the item-based rich collection of information found in collection management systems. This paper shows what such an integrated system might look like, explains what activities will be needed to get there, and reviews some existing Web activities that begin to approach such a future integration.