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I've just discovered that our response to Beth's thoughtful report on the IUPUI demonstration session didn't get posted <blush!> Here it is, on the better late than never theory! And with the added benefit of new information and updates. jennifer Q. Can we find out more about the scope information the digital materials each museum contributed to AMICO cover and how those contributions relate to the rest of each museum's collections? A. We're hoping to provide an "overview" of the library by period and geography, but it won't relate the AMICO contribution of each museum to the overall holdings of that museum, if this is what is meant. ----- Q. People have concerns about how long the images will be available, even though the contract focuses on long-term availability. A. AMICO is designed to be a permanent organization with a growing library. We're exploring the possibility of a "buy out" clause for a limited number of images to address this question of persistence. Would that be of interest? How much would it be worth, per image? ----- Q. What about images that we download for classes? Can we keep them even if we decide not to renew our contract? A. No, you can't systematically copy from the AMICO Library for long term retention outside the terms of the license. Nothing in the AMICO license limits fair use, however, so each faculty member may keep have materials they have studied. ----- Q. How often are new images added to the database? How will we be informed of these updates? A. At present plans are for the Library to be updated each year with a release date of 1 July. We'll announce the list of works as soon as it is stable (there still coming in!) ----- Q. How likely is it that AMICO will make enhancements to the search engine in the future? For example, implement vocabulary support, implement content based searching (color, shape, texture). A. AMICO doesn't provide the access service, its distributors do. We expect taht different distributors will probably provide different functionality. BUT AMICO will be enhancing the database through adding vocabulary control (relations to ULAN for example) and by standardizing some index terminology. This is a big job, organizationally, as it has an impact on the activities of all AMICO members. Still, AMICO has formed an Editorial Committee, and we're working on it. ----- Q. Knowing the right terms to search in AMICO is difficult; could each museum provide a list of keywords that describe the images they have contributed in the AMICO database? A. The RLG implementation does show term lists. When these are edited (ongoing), they should be unique term lists. You can browse these, and use the check-boxes to select multiple terms. ----- Q. The lack of name or term standards across the database makes it extremely challenging to execute comprehensive searches. What kinds of improvements are going to be made to AMICO to facilitate this? As said above, we're looking at matching Names in AMICO records to ULAN. We've run preliminary tests, and these have shown us that this is going to be a big job, because many of the artists or forms of names that museums use in their records aren't in ULAN. We're scheduling this work for this spring/summer, and would love input on priorities. We're assuming, Name and Object Type come first. We're also developing a set of matching algorythms to create searchable dates from the text strings in most AMICO records (to index "mid-nineteenth century" in a searchable way). You've seen the first results of this in the date search capability added to the new Eureka RLG deliver system. ----- Q. What kinds of metadata production standards are AMICO members able to adopt in order to make their metadata more suitable for public access? A. This is a major emphasis of the newly formed editorial committee. We are also imposing external indexing controls. We're mapping the AMICO Data Dictonary to Dublin Core, and to the VRA core. We're hopeful that AMICO metadata will be represented in Dublin Core conformant xml/rdf in the coming year release. ----- Q. We would like to request that certain materials in a museum's collection be digitized. How can we give AMICO museums this feedback? A. We've posted a general note asking for specific suggestions. Please ask on the testbed list. In the future, beyond the testbed, we'll maintain a vehicle for users of the AMICO Library to give us feedback and provide input. I'd like to talk about this at the Testbed meeting in Pittsburgh in June. ----- Q. How do AMICO museums want us to give them credit when we use their images on another controlled access website?
Citation standard: the Data Dictionary lists a set of "required Citation Fields. These are:
AID AMICO Identifier OTG Object-Title/Name CRT Creator-Name-Text OCT Creation-Date-Text OON Owner Name OOC Owner-Credit-Line ORS Copyright-Statement (for the work itself) XRS DC.Rights (for the image not the work) So a sample caption could look like this ( a lot like label copy):
Mickey Pallas (United States , 1916-1997) Harlem Globetrotter Baseball Players, 1949. Gelatin silver print Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, No. 94:057:038 Mickey Pallas Archive / Gift of the artist and Pat Pallas. Copyright 1998 Center for Creative Photography and the artist. ----- Q. Can students keep AMICO images in their portfolios? If yes, for how long? A. Yes. Forever. ----- |