contentdm 'quick start' at the metropolitan museum of art
DESCRIPTION
A 15-minute talk given at the 2010 American Library Association Midwinter conference in Boston, MA. Contextualizes and introduces our initial efforts using OCLC's digital asset management software CONTENTdm in the Libraries of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.TRANSCRIPT
CONTENTdm ‘Quick Start’
at The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
Dan LipcanThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
January 17, 2010
Talking about…
• Landscape & background• Why CONTENTdm• Strategy & plans• Outcomes• Expectations
The landscape
• Ubiquity and growth of digital resources
• Recognized need within the library
• Some content management systems in the Museum, but...
• No place for text-oriented, digital research materials
Object database
Image database
Internal Department site
Administrative documents
Modest beginnings
• Single-volume digitization• Outsourced projects• Born-digital resources• Collaborative ventures• Linked to/from the library
catalog
Kummel Report
Kummel Report
Auction catalogs
Auction catalog pricelists
Macbeth Gallery catalogs
Macbeth Gallery
Custom Google search
Why CONTENTdm?
• Research & testing• Other libraries• Staff reorganizations• FirstSearch Base package
subscription
Our CONTENTdm setup
• 3,000 items/10 GB storage capacity
• Hosted by OCLC• + 1 OCR Extension license
Our Strategy & Plans
• Use ‘Quick Start’ as a live prototype/proof-of-concept
• Justify a larger-scale digitization program
• Graduate to a Museum-wide initiative
Collections for CONTENTdm
• Collaborative projects• Finding Aids• Images• Manuscripts• Text documents
Text documents
Images
Images: Fine bindings
Images: Fine bindings
Manuscripts
Finding Aids
Collaborative projects
WorldCat sync/OAI Harvest
Challenges
• Network connections• Learning curve• Choices! Flexibility!• Integrating CONTENTdm with
other resources
Lessons
• Prepare to do and re-do• Initially, display is of secondary
consideration– Default display is good enough to
start with
Errors happen
Errors happen
Outcomes (so far)
• A solid start• Batch import/upload works well• OCR processing excellent• Excited about the full-text search
potential
Expectations
• Make the possibilities repay our efforts
• Content will be more accessible than ever before
• Advance digitization as a preservation measure
• The software, our presentation and our skills will get better over time
Dan LipcanThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Librarieshttp://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org