The panel will discuss two consortia in action from digital archives used for education and engagement from leading academic institutions and nonprofit organizations that are reshaping the way they approach pedagogical resources in the arts, library and archival communities. In both consortia, members contribute data to shared resources which have shared cataloguing standards, a shared data model, and shared data published through on-line public access portals. One consortium is a group of design school libraries whose goal is to provide a community and standards-based approach to describing and managing design materials collections. The other consortium is a shared repository - publicly accessible / free to access and no cost to contribute; one of largest active databases of public art whose goal is to continue documenting public art in all communities. Both projects are looking for additional partners from the ARLIS community to participate in adding their institutional collections so that we can expand these resources for all.
In the virtual age, it is critical to find new ways to engage our patrons online with our collections. This requires new ways of collaboration and a focus on flexibility, and accessibility in how we present our materials as a resource. The panel will share stories of how people are accessing collections online, and how the consortium model amplifies the power of scale to increase accessibility across these fields of study that can both pinpoint and expand networks of data. Panel discussions will include:
• How people are broadly using the collections in our consortium projects, and why that matters to their pedagogy, school experience and research.
• How consortia relationships create more equitable relationships between diverse types and sizes of institutions sharing collections together.
• How the consortium model helps us all do more with less by sharing online costs, people resources and expanding the range of research materials our public can have access to.
• How these shared online databases serve as teaching tools, providing the ability to expand our students, faculty, and patrons’ understanding of these collections, and be inspired by what they explore.
• How these consortium models help us balance the authoritative data structures with user-supplied content.
The Power of Consortia panel focuses on the use of new technologies and modes of interaction as a springboard for building greater accessibility to online repositories; and empowering institutions that participate in these consortia to serve their GLAM community with extensive resources.
Sponsored by OCAD University
