Search the University of Alberta Museums Collections

We're so glad you noticed! The University of Alberta Museums (UAM) unit staff have been working hard over the few years to create a brand new single-point-of-access search site that will encourage easy access, exploration, and discovery of University of Alberta Museums collections in an online environment. There are a number of benefits to us creating a new single-point-of-access search site:

• Eliminating technology risks - replacing the outdated websites have helped us to eliminate the risk of these sites failing unexpectedly due to unsupported software.
• Increasing functionality - creating functional and accurate search systems has reduced the demands placed on University of Alberta Museums staff time and finances to troubleshoot multiple sites. A single-point-of-access search site has increased efficiency and eliminated redundant maintenance activities.
• Increasing accessibility - better SEO (search engine optimization) and web accessibility standards have improved visibility of the site on the web and create a better usability experience for all types of users.
• Improving usability - designing this search site to be an innovative online tool and single-point-of-access for all museum collections has made it easier for audiences to explore the breadth and diversity of University of Alberta Museum collections.
• Strengthening trust - engaging audiences has built trust in the University of Alberta Museums’ institutional brand reputation amongst existing and new users of the University of Alberta Museums collection search site.

A single-point-of-access site was chosen to increase awareness of the diversity of museum collections on campus and facilitate cross-collection discoveries. Uniting the majority of registered museum collections on-campus online for the first time helps to achieve the University of Alberta Museums' strategic objectives, and also contribute to U of A’s overarching academic mission.

Having all of the museum collections in one online search site is a more efficient use of staff time and resources as site maintenance tasks and features can benefit all participating collections.

The UAM Search Site has over 675,000 object and specimen records!

Creating new object and specimen records in the registered museum collections is the responsibility of individual registered museum collections. The intention of a single-point-of-access search site is to increase the visibility of all the museum collections on campus, and it should not stop registered museum collections from increasing their own records.

As long as the museum collection data is housed in Mimsy, we will work towards its inclusion on the Search Site.