Digitisation of Collections: PictureAustralia

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Digitisation of collectionsPictureAustralia as
an example of why, how and who
Danielle Freeman PictureAustralia Service
Manager National Library of Australia
OZeCulture Conference - 13 June 2001
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Why digitise our collections?

• The National Librarys key goal
• All Australians at their place of choice,
  have direct, seamless access to print and
  electronic sources of information.
• Digitisation of collections is a means of
  addressing access via electronic sources

OZeCulture Conference - 13 June 2001
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Access to digitised materials

• It is important to make access to digital content
  both simple and direct for end users
• Many Australians seeking access to digital
  content do not think in terms of which
  institution owns the content
• The PictureAustralia service meets these needs
  and is a truly successful example of cross
  cultural cooperation
• Other services based on the PictureAustralia
  model are planned, including MusicAustralia

OZeCulture Conference - 13 June 2001
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The concept

• Need for a national discovery service as users do
  not know where images are located
• Discovery service should be cross sectoral as
  users dont care if images are hosted by museums,
  archives, galleries or libraries
• Use a central metadata repository to support
  national discovery

OZeCulture Conference - 13 June 2001
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Milestones

• ImageSearch prototype developed in 1998National
  Library of AustraliaAustralian War Memorial
  State library of NSWState Library of Tasmania
  State Library of Victoria
• Launch of PictureAustralia in September 2000 with
  close to 500,000 images and National Archives of
  AustraliaUniversity of Queensland

OZeCulture Conference - 13 June 2001
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Milestones

• Winner of the AFR Internet Award in the Arts
  category in November 2000
• Currently 10 participants in the service with the
  Australian Heritage Commission, the Nolan
  Gallery, and Lake Macquarie City Library joining
  in 2001
• New participants includeMuseum
  VictoriaNational Library of New Zealand

OZeCulture Conference - 13 June 2001
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Benefits

• For users
• single web access point to many collections
• simple searching
• access to a wide range of images
• For participants
• increased visibility and use of collections
• diversity of users
• collaborative approach

OZeCulture Conference - 13 June 2001
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Service architecture

• Software platform - MetaStar by Blue Angel
  Technologies
• MetaStar harvester copies metadata in the Dublin
  Core format from participants web sites
• A central metadata index is created at the
  National Library
• Thumbnail images held on participants web sites
  and incorporated into search results in real time
• Low technical investment is required by
  participants

OZeCulture Conference - 13 June 2001