Observe to Assess, Assess to Optimize
—Assess Collection Images at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
The Project
This project evaluates the Kelsey Museum's
current digitization practices and offers recom-
mendations for improving the Museum's sys-
tems for storage, retrieval and long-term pres-
ervation of artifacts digital images.
The assessment covers three aspects:
Kelsey’s present practices; other museums’
practices; Kelsey’s possible approaches to a
sustainable future.
The recommendations target to situate the
museum’s digitization project in a bigger picture
as a way to help Kelsey make decisions that
benefits a long-time preservation.
Other Museums
Museum of Anthropology
Museum of Sindecuse
Museum of Art
Equipments
Image Quality
Database software
Metadata
Online Gallery
Thoughts about future
Kelsey’s Present Practices Problems and Recommendations
The Kelsey image collection’s present practices
include image creation, digital asset manage- Problem Statements
ment, storage and online presentation, all as-
It is not capable of supporting efficient retrieval,
pects of a digital image system.
its image quality cannot always meet the needs
of users
the scale of its online display is too small and
has not been updated regularly
Metadata
No updating
Recommendations
Images Develop collection digital preservation policy.
Image quality ?
Creation
Web Presentation
Improve the image quality
No updating Give suggestions on both in-house photo shoot-
ing and collaboration with photographers from
the library of University of Michigan.
Efficient retrival ?
Storage Achieve Efficient Retrieval and Optimize
Kelsey’s Present Practices Access
• Provide both short-term and long-term solu-
tions.
The image collection plays its role as the primary • Recommend Digital Asset Management Data-
image source for both internal usages and exter- base (DAMD), a platform tool to standardize the
nal services. However, the system cannot func- metadata construction.
tion as the solid base for a sustainable collection • An overview of five digital asset management
yet. systems and online access applications
Xiaoli Ma, School of Information,University of Michigan