Think Global, Act Local - Library, Archive and Museum Collaboration

Waibel, Günter and Ricky Erway. 2009. “Think Global, Act Local – Library, Archive and Museum Collaboration.” Museum Management and Curatorship, 24,4. Pre-print available online at: http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2009/waibel-erway-mmc.pdf.

"This article introduces the library, archive and museum workshops held by RLG Programs at the University of Edinburgh, Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Yale University, and presents the lessons abstracted from these day-long events."

Waibel and Erway argue for creating deep collaboration among LAMs at the network level to reach users. They report on "five LAM workshops, conducted in late 2007 and early 2008 by RLG Programs staff Günter Waibel, Ricky Erway and consulting facilitator Diane Zorich, [that] aimed to surface information about existing collaborative activities and be a catalyst for deeper collaborations. ... The University of Edinburgh, Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Yale University participated in the workshops."

Brief and nicely done, this gives a good overview of goals, challenges and strategies for LAM collaborations.

Smithsonian Institution Collections Search Center

Last month, the Smithsonian Institution launched a Collections Search Center at

http://collections.si.edu/search/

This search tool brings together over 2 million searchable records with 265,900 images, video and sound files, electronic journals and other resources from the Smithsonian's museums, archives & libraries.

The work was done by Quotient. Quotient is a systems integrator and IT services solution company for commercial, government organizations and federal agencies.

Quotient redesigned the existing Collections Search Center with a focus on improving the visual aesthetic, usability, and appeal for students, teachers, scholars, researchers, and the general public. Quotient's design and development team worked out several design directions and partnered with the Smithsonian to increase accessibility and compliance as well as to enhance the site with an interactive slideshow framework.

It is nicely done. In some respects Yale University is like SI--a broad-based research institution with fast-growing research collections and a mission to advance knowledge and educate.