OCLC, the world's largest library service and research organization, has been awarded a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to further develop standards for museum data exchange.
The $145,000 grant will be used by OCLC to fund projects involving OCLC Programs and Research and seven RLG Programs art museum partners to build an information architecture and model behaviors that museums can use to routinely exchange data.
This initiative will result in the creation of a low-barrier/no-cost batch export capability out of the collections management system used by the participating museums (GallerySystems TMS), as well as a test of data exchange processes using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). The test will create a large research aggregation of museum records, which will be analyzed to determine in which areas museums should invest in upgrading their records, and in which areas automated processes can be utilized to harmonize descriptions for retrieval. Participating museums will also discuss the evidence about the relative utility of the aggregation with stakeholders from the museum, vendor and aggregator communities.
"We've seen a change in attitudes in the museum community over the last couple of years, and increasingly, technological solutions are lagging behind aspirations to share," said James Michalko, OCLC Vice President, RLG Programs. "We are grateful to The Mellon Foundation for their generous support of our efforts to empower museums in their desire to exchange digital records and images."
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