Development and Support for MUSE, a Microcomputer-based System for Managing Natural History Collections

朱利安·汉弗莱斯博士是康奈尔大学的鱼类生物学家和博物馆馆长。他开发了一种名为MUSE的数据库软件系统，用于用微型计算机管理博物馆藏品数据，世界上已有20多件自然历史藏品(主要是脊椎动物)采用了该系统。汉弗莱斯博士建议继续开发软件系统，使其适应新的硬件平台(Macintosh和UNIX机)，并利用互联网建立站点间的连接。汉弗莱斯还计划举办三个研讨会，向新来的博物馆介绍藏品计算机化，培训其他馆长和藏品管理人员如何使用缪斯，以及为藏品数据库制定社区范围的数据标准。MUSE软件系统通过提供博物馆收藏的数据，对脊椎动物生物学家群体产生了巨大影响。这些数据的获取正在对进化、生物多样性和全球气候变化的研究产生重要影响，社区对这些数据的依赖将会扩大和加速。拟议的缪斯项目的延长将以切实、直接的方式惠及研究界。

Dr. Julian Humphries is a fish biologist and museum curator at Cornell University. He has developed a database software system called "MUSE" for managing museum collection data with microcomputers, and more than twenty natural history collections (mostly vertebrate) around the world have adopted the system. Dr. Humphries proposes to continue development of the software system by adapting it to new hardware platforms (Macintosh and UNIX machines), and establishing inter-site connections using Internet. Dr. Humphries also plans three workshops to introduce newcomer museums to collection computerization, to train other curators and collection managers in the use of MUSE, and to develop community-wide data standards for collection databases. The MUSE software system has had great impact on the community of vertebrate biologists by making data readily available from museum collections. Access to these data are having important impact on research in evolution, biological diversity and global climate change, and the community's reliance on these data will expand and accelerate. The proposed extension of the MUSE Project will benefit the research community in tangible, immediate ways.