KE EMu

Connect To The World 

Your collection management system does not need to operate as an island of information unto itself as EMu has been designed to connect you and your collection to the rest of the world. EMu facilitates the interchange of information with other compliant museums, and makes it easy to associate other web resources with your collection material.

Data interchange

With fully integrated support for XML, EMu ensures that your museum can participate in almost any contemporary collaborative activity. Further, this support can be used to exchange information with compliant software from other museums.

Importing data

EMu allows the import of data in XML format directly into any or all modules of the system. An EMu import can be used to create new records or modify existing records. EMu can even import multimedia resources and extract various metadata elements directly from the resources themselves.

All of your validation rules are applied to imported data and records are created according to your own security profile. You choose whether EMu strictly applies your authority lists to the incoming data or uses that incoming data to update those authority lists. EMu can even ask for your input each time a new term is encountered. This way you can be sure that imported data matches your own data entry standards.

On import, EMu can create, update or attach to records in associated modules. Importing a new Catalogue record for a work of art, for instance, may create a new artist record or attach to an existing artist record. EMu can even update that artist record if the incoming data contains more current information.

EMu can also import data in CVS or tab-delimited formats. 

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Exporting data

With EMu it is also a simple matter to choose any fields from any modules and export them in XML format to a file, to another application or directly to another person via email.

Interchanging Data

Of course, data exported from EMu can be imported into EMu. This means that you can export data from your system and send it to another EMu user for import into their system^[1]. EMu users around the world are thus able to interchange data electronically.

But it is not just EMu users. If any group of museums can agree on an XML-based standard for data interchange, you can be confident that EMu will be able to export to that format and import from it.

Linking to web resources

EMu provides a mechanism to link from a record in your collection to a web-based resource that might offer additional information about that record. EMu extracts information from the record you are viewing and builds a URL to this other resource. You simply click on that URL and the related web resource is displayed.

These resource links can be set up to reference any web sites. Examples include:

• Linking from a specimen or taxon to GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility).
• Linking from a specimen or taxon to a discipline-specific web site such as OBIS, MaNIS or mindat.org.
• Linking from a specimen or collection locality, or even a person’s address, to Google Maps.
• Linking from an artist’s record to ULAN (United List of Artist Names) or other artist information repository.

Resource menu in EMu showing links to GBIF, Google Maps and Google.

The link to Google Maps also displays information from the specimen.

Read on for details about how EMu can assist you to:

• Manage Your Collections
• Document Your Objects
• Enrich Your Information With Multimedia
• Derive New Knowledge
• Publish Your Knowledge
• Participate in the Global Museum Community

See Also

• User Interface
• Customising EMu
• Other Features  

More Information

To contact us for more information about KE EMu, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Telephone contact details can be found on the Contact page. 

Instructions for downloading the EMu Help (which includes screen shots and demonstrations, and comprehensive details about EMu functionality) can be found under More Information. 
 

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[1] For data interchange of Catalogue data, this assumes that the Catalogues of the two EMu sites are compatible, at least with respect to the exported fields.