Drupal and Collections Online

I'm working on a contract (non-web) for a museum currently and know they need a way to present their collections to the public.

Has anyone started to think about building a collections module (or feature) to at least get someone started with creating a drupal-based collections management system?

I'm just finishing up phase one of a contract to build a collections management database in Drupal. It started out as being just a front end to an already existing (outdated/MS Access) collections management db, but quickly turned into a full fledged solution for managing all aspects of the museums collection. We had a reduced timeline and a large dataset to massage and import, but we still managed to build a pretty powerful application. Just a small sample of what it currently can do:

Objects
- tab based editing of large amounts of data per object
- advanced filtering for extremely flexible and powerful searches
- bulk search and replace on any field and result set
- pick lists for consistent data values (ie. nomenclature, geo-cultural areas)

Exhibits
- objects can be assigned to exhibits
- start and end dates
- resource handling (objects can't be on loan and in an exhibit during the same date range)
- exhibit history is tracked on a per object basis

Conservations and Condition reports
- start and end dates
- resource handling
- conservation and condition history is tracked on a per object basis

Loans In/Loans Out
- start and end dates
- resource handling
- loan history is tracked on a per object basis

Accession -> Deaccession workflow
- comprehensive workflow allowing a staged or stepped approach to accession/deaccession
- several unique printing options for presenting accession recommendations to directors

Contacts (Sources, Appraisers, Artists, Authors, Conservators)
- complete registry of all associations with the museum
- contacts are separated by type and can be easily filtered

Dashboard
- role specific, eg. conservators can only see conservations and condition reports
- customizable, blocks can be added easily to provide a complete heads up of all object comings and goings

Front end
- allows display of object catalogue on a per object basis
- separate theme from the backend and based on an extremely flexible base theme called fusebasic

During development we focused on the life of an object within the museum. We wanted to track anything that was happening to an object. When it left the museum on loan, when it came back, condition reports, etc... all the way through to deaccession. Our other focus was to create a distribution that could be released back to the drupal community. We faltered about mid-way and went back to a one off development process, but with some interest we may be able to "featurize" and offer up a packaged install down the road. However, it's yet to be seen how other museums would use the software and if what we've built is too specific to the museum we're working with.