Visual Resources Update July/August 2021

Visual Resources Update July/August 2021

On July 21 the University of Notre Dame announced a new platform for online access to library and museum holdings. MARBLE, short for Museums, Archives, Rare Books and Libraries Exploration offers “an online teaching and research platform designed to make distinctive cultural heritage collections from across the University accessible through a single portal.”

Like Notre Dame, Princeton has multiple different gateways to different campus collections and would benefit from a more integrated digital ecosystem. The Princeton University Art Museum, for example, has already integrated its collections into the library catalog. What makes MARBLE possible is the iiif system, the same framework which allows VR to incorporate images directly into courses in Canvas.

The VR is currently working with Princeton University Library IT to assess the possibility of the department image collection being catalogued into the library digital collections repository for enhanced discoverability and access. The biggest hurdle to combining systems, as described in the Notre Dame article, is the difference between various collections’ cataloguing practices and terms. The VR’s work on standardizing and improving metadata consistency will help the integration with current library standards. Test batches of works and images have been promising!

See the latest announcement from Visual Resources on the A&A website here: Major New Online Resource for the Study of Ancient Antioch Launched

Interesting projects, resources:

From the British Library Endangered Archive Programme: a new photography collection documenting late 19th and early 20th Century Nepal

Kathmandu Valley, late 1800s. EAP838/1/2/5

This important and unique collection of photographs gives a fascinating insight into life in Nepal at a time when the country was under self-imposed isolation from the outside world. The photographs include portraits, diplomatic visits, landscapes, historic structures, and festivals. They capture images of urbanization, changes in the lifestyle and infrastructural transformation in Nepal. From the DirghaMan and GaneshMan Chitrakar Art Foundation photographic collection.

3D scans to accompany Troy: myth and reality exhibition, a collaboration with Sketchfab creates new digital content for ancient objects:

Stay tuned for a major project announcement from Visual Resources in September …