Why is DAM so DAM Confusing?

Another great resource for you - this time on Digital Asset Management. This is something that many businesses want and need, but have no idea where to start and how to prioritize the implementation, education and use of systems.

This article specifically is about why it is such a confusing subject for multi-disciplinary organizations. This blog by Henrik de Gyor offers some superb jumping off points for those interested in DAM or saddled with that responsibility anyway.

I have a particular interest in all of this as I consider myself the translator between the technical folks, the creatives and the business stakeholders. As an LIS professional with a sordid past as an advertising producer and asset manager, I like to identify common concerns for all parties and simplify the solutions. I think that is the key to any successful DAM system. At least one that people will find useful in their daily work…

Finally, here’s another of my favorite posts on this DAM blog - “Why do I need a Digital Asset Manager?”

LAPD Stolen Art Database

Did you know that the LAPD maintains a database of stolen art? I didn’t either until my friend Jeff Friederichsen pointed it out. Anyway, it includes everything from animation cels to Oscar statues, paintings and sculptures.

I was curious about the level of detail provided in the metadata. Beyond the title and artist if available, there are measurements and medium as well as the LAPD identifier and case numbers.

Book ‘em, Danno!

Buchstabenmuseum: The Museum of Letters

Here is a beautifully designed website for an interesting collection in Berlin, Germany. The Museum of Letters “is devoted to preserving and documenting letterforms.” This appeals to typography and letterpress buffs, museum folks and librarians and lovers of letters alike.

The site has a nice clean aesthetic, copy in German and English and my favorite part - a place to click through part of the collection. Yummy!

VRA Core, Luna Insights and Cornell University

Are you contemplating the VRA Core 4.0 metadata standard for processing a collection? In performing research for the Century 21 Exposition collection at The Seattle Public Library, I ran across some useful and informative resources by Margaret Webster of Cornell University on that very subject.

In 2007, Webster wrote an article and presented on Cornell’s experience using Luna Insights collection management software and employing VRA Core 4.0 elements to process some really unique faculty collections. Here are some links to resources and the citation to the article that piqued my interest:

* Collection ‘Beyond the Taj’ on Luna Commons

* Presentation by Webster ‘The metadata landscape: Cataloging Cultural Objects, VRA Core and our visual collections

* Article citation: Webster, M. (2007). E-grants + VRA Core 4.0 + XML = collaboration: Implementing VRA Core 4.0 in metadata workflows. Visual Resources Association Bulletin, 34(1), 111-119.

Social Media Friday

Do you care about your Klout score? Touted as the “standard for influence,” Klout offers a measurement of your online influence. So if you are an avid blogger and Tweeter, you may want to employ this measure in addition to using analytics tools like Google Analytics to explore and track the impact of your posts.

My Klout score has risen dramatically in the past few weeks which demonstrates a pretty typical trend. When you begin any social media campaign, it takes a while to attract followers, develop a voice and expand reach.

Now, let’s talk about Twitter. There was a fantastic post by the Travelin’ Librarian Michael Sauers recently about how to “Pimp Your Twitter.” This post offers some cool suggestions on ancillary resources like Hootsuite for organizing multiple Tweeters, Flickr2Twitter to aid in your instant photo posting quest, and the ARCHIVISt for archiving and tracking your Tweets.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the NYPL Digital Gallery

Yoo Hoo, eBooks, Where Are You?

While librarians are immersed in the importance of quality metadata, publishers are beginning to realize the significance of metadata for eBooks. According to a post by Eric Rumsey, “with eBooks, the process of discovery is more difficult, since browsing of physical books on the shelf is not possible.”

Seems we have heard that one before in the development of OPAC’s that allow shelf-like browsing due in large part to metadata.

Let’s hope that this shift opens up some opportunities in LIS. eBooks are a force to be reckoned with. In fact, I noticed quite a few positions at Amazon recently incorporating metadata and discovery.

Make Yourself Findable

In the information profession, we talk a lot about findability (thanks Peter Morville!). Creating metadata and cataloging items so that users can easily locate relevant information is the central core of library and information science.

Take a moment and think instead about making yourself findable. If you are undertaking a job search, especially for your first post MLIS professional job, you need to ensure that prospective employers can find you online and that your reputation would make your mom proud.

One of the most excellent resources I have run across appeared today on a fantastic blog - Digitization 101 written by Jill Hurst-Wahl at Syracuse University. This post is encouraging and offers practical advice. In addition, a handy attached PDF guide goes into more details on subjects like “what is the difference between a CV and a resume?”

I need to build my own website in December to begin the job search. I have pulled together some resources (check out this LibGuide on Personal Branding), but I am seeking all the help I can get. Jill’s post made me exceedingly happy and I now have some tangible, actionable steps to follow in planning my LIS job search process. Thank you!

Hugh Dean East Asian Pamphlet Collection

Lewis & Clark College Digital Collections

Fashion is Always in Style

Naturally, FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) is at the forefront when it comes to featuring fashion collections and resources online. From the FIT Museum online galleries with such diverse offerings as the “1980’s Gallery” to one titled “She’s Like a Rainbow,” FIT collections are well organized and interesting.

The FIT Library features many useful resources for fashion research as well including information on trends, publications and even a collection of catalogs.

And, if you’d like to create your own online fashion boutique, Google launched a tool so you can do just that - Boutiques.com. This site aids user discovery by providing boutiques curated by taste-makers like designers, stylists and celebrities. You can create a personal profile and your own boutique. This can likely take the place of all the clippings I used to save from Lucky and the Nordstrom catalog.

I'll Never be an Action Figure

While library and information people probably don’t think a lot about fame and most will never be immortalized in molded plastic like Nancy Pearl of librarian action figure notoriety, a little bit of self promotion never hurt.

I read an interesting article recently by Roy Tennant on LibraryJournal.com about becoming famous in the library world. Let’s face it - having an MLIS and hoping to snag a primo position is a bit competitive. If having a niche, doing speaking engagements, having a blog, using other social media outlets strategically and setting yourself up as a resource or dare I say, expert can lead in a positive direction, why not?

The one bit of advice from Tennant that I need to work on is finding a mentor. I will be graduating in the Spring and although I am undaunted by the competitiveness having spent over a decade in advertising, I would like some advice on practical matters such as how to submit papers for publication and why academic job searches seem to take months upon months. Anyone interested?

Pulp Fiction Collection

This is the way to display a collection! The George Kelley Paperback and Pulp Fiction Collection at the University at Buffalo: The State University of New York is not only aesthetically pleasing, but well organized and easy to navigate. Somehow, an incredibly dense amount of information is presented in a graceful design that successfully enables user discovery for browsing or targeted searching. There is even a section on cover art that features clear guidelines on copyright. I think I need to ask about their collection management platform and I will report back once I discover the secret. Amazing resource!

Digital Images: JISC Resources

Where has JISC Digital Media been all my life? This link alone allows access to more information on best practices for creating and organizing digital images than I can shake a stick at. These resources include amazing amounts of information on metadata and DAMS. There is even advice on managing your images on Flickr. Let’s just say that I now have a sensible starting point for an idea for a presentation at the upcoming Personal Digital Archiving conference in San Francisco in 2011.

LibGuides are Fun!

I had an opportunity to create my first LibGuide recently. For those not in the know, LibGuides are essentially subject guides - ideally a well designed, curated and organized group of electronic resources on a subject.

Anyway, I used Springshare (Springy Library) to create this guide to personal branding using social media.

Try it out! I also saw a great example of a Tumblr LibGuide template this week from Tiffani Travis a.k.a. Mojo_Girl.

Hey, I can do that...

Apparently the new world of library and information sciences needs project management skills. Well, finally the sensible nexus of my years in advertising and my library education coalesces into a valuable skill set.

Here is a excerpt from an interesting article/interview with Brian Matthews in ALA Editions:

“I really want to see project management skills. That’s what I’ll be looking for in the next librarian I hire. I want to see that they can develop their own ideas and/or build upon other’s and carry a project through to the end.”

Retro Library Step Stool

A library-style step stool in virtually every color!

Perpetual Reinvention

There is yet another article about libraries and the perpetual pursuit of reinvention. While this LA Times piece features one of my faves, the Anythink libraries (Rangeview) in Colorado, it makes me wonder why there are not more articles about banks reinventing themselves. Or universities. Or grocery stores. Or bookstores, department stores, and insurance companies.

Nearly every profession, with the possible exceptions of Jiffy Lube and hair salons, have been affected by the digital age. You can do almost everything online, but still people choose to leave their houses.

Admittedly, the e-book issue is a sticky one for libraries, but ultimately people like libraries for the community aspect and as a place to go when they need some help. This same premise may just keep academic and public libraries alike humming along - whether virtually or actually.

I am a Screencasting Star

I’m ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille. This week I discovered screencasting. Yes, I know I am a little late to the party, but let me take a moment to revel in the simplicity and grace of this fine educational tool.

Here are five things I love about screencasts/screencasting and a link to a fabulous article if you’d like to try it yourself.

*Excellent for explaining briefly how to do something (use software, make a paper airplane, search the card catalog, tie your shoes…).

*You don’t have to be in a screencast - just the screen action and your melodic voice as narration.

*Production can be very simple or you can edit for a more polished finished product.

*Easy to share.

*Variety of software and lots of it is free!

Here is an article on how to make a screencast. Although I wonder why it is not a screencast on how to make a screencast, I do appreciate the tips offered here on WebDesignerDepot. Enjoy!

AdViews Collection: Classic Honeycombs

Courtesy of the digital collections available through Duke University - introducing AdViews - thousands of television commercials created or collected by the D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency, dated 1950s - 1980s.

Check out these classic Honeycombs cereal TV commercials that might even make Don Draper jealous. Play them in iTunes. Are you impressed with the collection and the delivery?

The Elephant in the Room

Anyone pursuing an MLIS or working in a library setting currently knows that the search for that first library related job is rumored to be long and arduous. Luckily, there are many fine resources available online to help you through the process.

Sometimes I get paranoid about my lack of recent public facing library experience. Although I have staffed circulation and in fact, supervised students in document delivery at a busy academic library in the past, more recently I have been focusing on my interests - metadata, taxonomy, visual resources and digitization.

This blog post made me feel okay about my focus. To quote LibraryHat “Just as important as getting library work experience is doing the kind of work that one “wants to pursue” after the MLS.”

Here is a list of some other good posts or resources on the subject of the MLIS job hunt:

• Essential Advice for New Professionals (thewikiman blog)

• Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki

• Librarian by Day: So You Want to be a Librarian

Metadata, Baby!

Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I am glad I have such an interest in exploring the metadata schemes that work best for digital collections and visual resources. In a recent survey of special collections by OCLC Research, this comment rose to the top for me:

“Half of respondents reported a need for education or training in cataloging and metadata.  It may be that figuring out appropriate metadata approaches for digital collections is the stumbling block.”

There are many interesting results from this study including an increase in digitization, productivity, and outsourcing (ouch) and a decrease in much needed staff even as usage increases. And here is the full report on iTunes.

Hollywood Librarian Review

Remember I mentioned the documentary Hollywood Librarian? While it did feature all the best snippets of librarians in the movies (Desk Set, Party Girl, Music Man) and a lot of great stuff about why people become librarians, there was a strong focus on the current budget crises facing almost every library, type of library, and, frankly every other business or organization in this country right now.

If you become a librarian because you think it will be easy, think again. You will need to learn new technology almost daily, you will have to fight for funding for your organization and demonstrate your relevance constantly. I am new to all this having worked in libraries in the 80’s and 90’s, segued into over a decade in advertising and now returning to the field.

I decided that if I am going to work hard (like in advertising) I want to do it for something I personally believe in - like libraries. I want to use my powers for good. So please stop whining and start doing something!

Perhaps you can’t change the world or even the entire fate of your organization. What can you do? Can you make a few changes that make the website better? Can you hold a bake sale? Can you organize an event to attract a different user group? Can you think of a different way to display your materials?

Well, I think you can. Librarians and information professionals are adaptable, resourceful and smart. But whining is not appealing, nor does it accomplish a darn thing.

Not Conjunction Junction - WebJunction!

Library and information careers attract people who actively engage in lifelong learning. Technological changes coupled with the evolving face of information related professions require new skills all the time.

Do you know about WebJunction? WebJunction is an online community dedicated to providing access to courses and information for developing LIS skills in an affordable manner.

Courses include web design, user experience, social media, Web 2.0 and a wide variety of management classes. All are available via online delivery for $40.

What a fantastic idea! Let’s go learn something!

Best Image Database Ever!

This image is by Roy Lichtenstein and can be found in the best image database ever, the Collection Database of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This database is well organized and easy to search and careful attention has been paid to the information that accompanies each piece. To top it off, there are explanations of how to search, use keywords and interpret captions.

In addition, there is a huge list of other image databases available online so if you are like me and particularly entranced by the handling of visual resources in digital collections you have a lot to consider.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has always made me very happy. Go art!

Librarians Like Conferences

Hot on the heels of Internet Librarian, the Charleston Conference was held in South Carolina from November 3rd through today. This conference is billed as more of an informal gathering of librarians, publishers and vendors meeting to discuss timely topics mostly pertaining to acquisition and information delivery. After reading all the Tweets and some other posts from the conference, these are the topics discussed that seem most interesting to me:

• There is a big need for library school graduates with knowledge of data archiving and data curation.

• There was a session devoted to a face off between Serials Solutions Summons and EBSCO Discovery. Unifying theme - library users prefer a single Google-like search box.

• Social media use [for scholarly research] seems to be focused on the beginning and end of the research cycle.

• Researchers want libraries to index full text library holdings and socially tag library catalogs.

• Google Books metadata: Google collects metadata from over 100 sources, creates a “best of” record in an internal format and displays on books.google.com.

These are mere tidbits. Much more information can be found at Erin Dorney’s fabulous blog Library Scenester and at the conference site. Great stuff! Isn’t it cool that social media allows for virtual conference attendance?

Holy Smokes! Instant Search...

Imagine a world with Google-like search for library catalogs. Wait a second - it’s already arrived in the form of Summon(TM). Another product from Serials Solutions, the company that brings us the engaging yet polarizing AquaBrowser interface.

Well, I was admittedly skeptical when reading the testimonials on the Summon site. I decided to read the case study for the Summon implementation at Dartmouth College. I clicked on the link and experimented with a search I have been laboring over for a few weeks while preparing a paper on image retrieval.

I am amazed and delighted. It makes the interface I have been working with look like a looming wooden card catalog. I located ten resources that were available in full text with handy citations nearly immediately. I am beholden.

Did I mention Serials Solution has an office right down the street from my home? I want to shake someone’s hand. Another company bringing the future of libraries right here and now. Thank you!

Fashion at the Library

Well, the creative folks at the Denver Public Library have done it again with an event evocative of Project Runway. The Frock Out Exhibit and Independent Designers Challenge incorporates a dress display at the central library, online voting for each of the twelve designers, and a splashy event with music, lighting and performers happening at the library.

No one will SHHHH you and everyone will look chic and stylish. Despite the snow, I think I wish I lived in Denver…

What Would Keith Richards Do?

Being a librarian is so cool, even Keith Richards wanted to do it, according to The Times. Although this is old news by now, I think it speaks volumes (no pun intended) about the esteemed position of libraries and librarians in providing positive influence to many people at any stage of life and income level.

Sadly, when organizing his own book collection, Keith eventually decided that the Dewey Decimal system was “too much hassle.” But he holds a special place in his grizzled heart for libraries.

Metadata is Fun!

Just another example of the fun that can be had with metadata schemes. Get a load of this giant crosswalk chart on the Getty site. This helpful tool makes creating crosswalks and mapping like a walk in the park. If your park is filled with element sets with some controlled values and differing semantics…

Personally, I find it fascinating that there are so many metadata schemes and that each nuance creates a separate usefulness in a particular domain. Then again, I also like nothing more than creating enormous Excel spreadsheets.

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/standards/intrometadata/crosswalks.html

San Diego State University WPA Murals

Great article on the project is Art Documentation, volume 29.