Running a Successful Volunteer Session

Hi!  I’m Dan Rael, one of the Founders of CatalogIt, and currently the guy responsible for our sales and client services teams. My background is in Anthropology and Archaeology. My first job in the museum field was when I was in college at the University of New Mexico, where I worked at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. Later on, I worked as an archaeologist for the US Forest Service in California, on the Eldorado and Stanislaus National Forests. I also served two years in the Peace Corps, working with farmers in eastern Paraguay. I’ve been a collector of things pretty much my whole life- from seashells to stamps and coins, and later, of ethnographic art.

Needless to say, I love using CatalogIt to document my own collections—in fact, my own collection was the catalyst for CatalogIt.  Perhaps my favorite feature is the ability to have my entire collection with me- on my phone- at all times. When I’m visiting a museum far from home and come across something that is very similar to an item in my collection, I can open up my record and add notes or even an image! I can show items to my collector friends or to experts in the field and add details or make corrections to my data on the fly. I’ve also documented most of my library of reference books- this has proven handy in that I no longer buy copies of books that I already have!