Looking For a Simple Way to Get Some Extra TMS Training?
Every other month, Gallery Systems offers TMS Tuesday: Onboarding & Refresher Training. This popular TMS training session is great for anyone who’s part of the Gallery Systems community, especially first-time TMS users, students seeking careers in museums, and users with past TMS experience who need a skills update. TMS training sessions are led by Gallery Systems trainer and database extraordinaire, Allison Galland. We sat down with Allison to learn a bit more about her background, and get the details on TMS Tuesdays.
Allison, How Did You Learn about TMS?
Before I worked with Gallery Systems, I was a member of the Collections department with the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and with the Brooklyn Museum before that. I used TMS at both institutions on a daily basis and learned the program as a client. It’s great because now I work with clients and can understand their workflows and needs because I’ve been there. A lot of the staff at Gallery Systems come from the museum world, so it’s wonderful to have that community all around us every day.
How Did You Develop TMS Tuesdays?
Based on the feedback we were getting from our community, it became clear that we needed to develop a baseline training program for TMS users–everyone from new hires, to students who are looking to work in the museum field, to professionals that may have taken a break in their TMS use and needed to brush up on their skills. We wanted to create a program that was accessible, and easy to enroll in.
Allison Galland during her TMS Training with the National Archives and Records Administration
What Topics Do You Focus on for TMS Tuesdays?
It focuses on a few core modules: Objects, Constituents, and Media. We also expand on creating new records, location movements, and linking images, among other things. For example, when I walk trainees through creating a new object record, we go through each step. They get to watch me do it, and then when they get into their demo database, they get to create their own records for practice. We follow a similar process for each action, so trainees are always able to try it on their own and ask questions if they need to. We really narrowed the training process to the core skills everyone needs in TMS.
Who’s Eligible to Take TMS Tuesdays?
TMS Tuesdays training is online, so it’s open to everyone with internet access. We conduct the training live, so if attendees have questions it’s easy to talk. We also give them the opportunity to use a demo database, so they can get into TMS and play with it. This allows the trainees try out what we’re practicing without the risk of changing their museum’s data, so they learn about the details of searching, creating an object record, linking images to records, and the different fields in TMS. All our trainees are really excited to build a foundation in TMS.
Interested in learning more about working with Allison for TMS Tuesdays? Check out her upcoming training schedule!
