Getting StartedWhat does Collections Description mean to you? Why is it useful, and what can it do for your organisation? Before we begin with the process of creating Descriptions, it is worth considering the following story. Case Study - Anytown Library Anytown is a small town at the heart of a rural community. The Anytown Library sits on the High Street, not far from the museum and the shopping precinct. It's a popular local library, with users from all ages and walks of life. It offers a range of services such as after-hours reading clubs, Internet access and a mobile library service which takes books and a computer to the surrounding area one day a week. Anytown Library has a small collection of rare and antiquarian books on agriculture, as well as their normal book stock. They also have a small number of items on loan from the museum. Both collections are on display in a gallery area, which is popular with parents, kids and visitors to Anytown. About a year ago, Anytown Library put in a bid for funding to digitise their collection, and put it up online in a special section of their website. The bid was successful, and Anytown received a small project fund which was enough to hire the services of a digitisation studio in their Region. The collection was digitised, and at the same time, the Library worked with the Anytown Council IT department to create an online gallery. The online gallery was launched and it has since turned out to be a hugely popular service, drawing visitors from around the globe. Mrs Smith, Head of the Anytown Secondary School, has recently approached the Library with an idea. Her suggestion is to use the digitised collection to create an educational resource, which her 3rd years can download and use as part of a project at the school. Anytown Library is now working with the school to create Anytown Online, an educational service about the local area which draws on the digitised material. Anytown Library's experience is similar to that of thousands of museums, archives and libraries up and down the country. As more funding is made available to create digitised versions of collections, these organisations are facing new challenges and opportunities. Collection Description is a great way for museums, libraries and archives to share information about their digital services with a worldwide audience. The MICHAEL system is designed to help institutions like Anytown Library to:
Just like Anytown Library, your institution can benefit enormously from the power of Collection Description. |