Dear Colleagues, I am writing with an update on activities of the Leadership Working Group. We held our 4th quarterly meeting for FY2017-18 on May 29, 2018. During the meeting, we discussed the following: Grant Updates * We heard updates on the museum collections management technology project funded in 2017 by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Partners at the Balboa Park Online Collaborative (BPOC) and Ithaka S+R were tasked with investigating the museum technology landscape around collections, and how well it supports internal operations as well as community programming. You can read the report and sign up for a webinar to hear more about the project and results at: https://www.lyrasis.org/Leadership/Pages/Museum-Collections-Management.aspx<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.lyrasis.org_Leadership_Pages_Museum-2DCollections-2DManagement.aspx&d=DwMFAg&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=FRClhsB8MoZpzpjl618daRLwTDHzTj-thPNaw2gAkDA&m=a7WvB7o-tHjdSCp-HHvRGggQrs142On8ql5fMipx6sU&s=ZS7WUoBVk3LEB4RNXLsdo72ZanRHBp6qAYza0mVYK8E&e=> * We have been invited to submit a grant to the Andrew Mellon Foundation to continue work on CollectionSpace. We discussed priorities and timelines for the grant submission. Membership and Outreach Efforts * We are very happy to report that the CollectionSpace program continues to grow. As of May, there are 18 members across the six membership levels, over thirty implementations, and three active Registered Service Providers. * We were pleased to give a presentation about the museum collections management technology project at the American Alliance of Museums conference to in Phoenix, May 2018. Partnerships * The Western States Arts Federation has held several webinars to introduce the new Public Art Profile of CollectionSpace to its constituents. The webinars have had over 60 attendees; 18 of whom will be joining Anthony Radich, Lori Goldstein, and Megan Forbes for a breakfast at the Americans for the Arts Conference in June. Operational updates * Version 5.0 of the software was released in early Spring. Initial feedback from our community has been very positive: users are happy with the speed and new look/feel, and developers and engineers appreciate the streamlined and modern code base. * Development priorities for the next six months include upgrading each of our profiles to the 5.0 code, continuing work on the public browser prototype, and working to improve our new "Try Before You Buy" and "Starter Kit" offerings. The working group extends its thanks to all of you for your continuing support and ongoing contributions to the great community we are building. Respectfully, Ann Whiteside __________________________________________________________________________________________ Ann Whiteside Librarian/Assistant Dean for Information Services Harvard University Graduate School of Design awhiteside@gsd.harvard.edu<mailto:awhiteside@gsd.harvard.edu> 617-495-4010 https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/frances-loeb-library/