Enhancing discoverability and preservation of University of Delaware Museums collections

In preparation for migration to AM Quartex, the University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press had to take stock of and rationalise seven distinct digital collections. Learn about how this was overcome in part three of this guest blog series by Theresa Hessey, Digital Collections Librarian, co-written with Jan Gardner Broske, Collections Manager and Curator.

The University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press has seven distinct digital collections that represent the selections of materials held within our Museums. Metadata for these collections began as a paper-based system that has since been stored in a variety of platforms. By the early 2000s digital photography of the collections had begun.

Although the quality of the photography varied, the primary issue was to create a photo documentary record of each object for identification purposes to accompany the record.

During this time, the University of Delaware briefly supported the use of a digital platform and the Museums General collection was uploaded. Because metadata and images needed to go to a campus computing group for upload, the workflow proved problematic. While discoverability of the collection was widespread, copyright questions related to image downloads lingered. Images were presented at a lower resolution and/or were watermarked to prevent inappropriate use but unauthorised downloads still occurred with little or no ability on the part of Museums staff to monitor or restrict such uses.

In 2012, Museums digital collections were migrated to a platform used by both the Library and the Department of Art History. This migration was completed without proper training for Museums staff and no metadata remediation was conducted. In 2015, the University of Delaware Library and Museums were merged and since that time, Library and Museums staff have worked closely together to enhance Museums metadata using established crosswalks.

While the Museums digital collections represent only a portion of the materials housed across three distinct museums, providing digital access to researchers and increasing the discoverability of the treasures housed at the University of Delaware Museums is a significant priority for the organisation.

That’s why migration to AM Quartex will provide greater visibility for our Museums collections. By providing access to all Museums digital collections via a single URL, we can present the seven collections in a unique environment that makes them more discoverable. 

In addition, the ability to restrict downloads allows Museums staff to balance the rights protections due to artists and creators with the desire to expand the reach of our collections. 

Finally, users will be able to easily browse and search Museums collections in a separate digital environment from Library materials while allowing us to customise metadata to better reflect the unique nature of Museums collections.