Open Source Collections Management Software

Seth Kaufman

What is it?

Collections management software for museums and archives.

Collections presentation software providing framework for web and kiosk applications; includes media clients such as a high-resolution image viewer and audio/video player, and can transcode video & audio formats.

A collaboration between Whirl-i-Gig and partner institutions in N.America & Europe.

Freely available under the open source GNU Public License (GPL).

Two VersionsVersion 0.5x (current version=0.55)

Currently available

Originally named OpenCollection

First deployed in 2004

In use at 25+ sites (that we know of) worldwide

Version 0.6/1.0 (aka. “Providence”)

Expected release in first half of 2009Addresses many of the limitations of the 0.5x model the were exposed in 4+ years of real-world use in a variety of settings

0.5x FeaturesEntirely web-based.

Integrated digital asset management - support for many media and document formats.

Extensive support for authority lists and controlled vocabularies.

Configurable (but limited) support for metadata standards.

Direct web-presence with CA-Access.

Georeferencing/GIS support.

Can run on Linux/Unix, Mac OS X and Windows servers.

Improvements in 0.6Localization: user interface can be in many languages.

Multilingual cataloguing: all fields support translation into multiple languages.

No longer object-centric: object and authority items (people, geographic places, events, film productions) can be given equal importance in the user interface.

Configurable schema: all fields are now configurable. No more hardcoded fields.

Compound fields: configurable fields can be composed of many values, each having a specific type (eg. text, date range, number, predefined pick-list, type-ahead lookup into an authority or web-service). This makes PBCore support possible.

Pre-configured standards: Can be automatically configured to support various metadata schemes via configuration profiles. Initial support for PBCore, DublinCore, CEN/TC-372, CA 0.5x compatibility mode and a selection of use-specific custom schemas (eg. location-based photo archive, documentary archive, exhibition archive). You can write your own.

Improvements in 0.6Overhauled user interface: fewer clicks, easier navigation. Uses shiny new browser features that weren’t available in 2003-2004 when the 0.5x UI was designed.

New media types: adding built-in support for image formats such as DPX (digital projection).

“Pluggable” search engine: can use any back-end search engine for which a plug-in has been written. Five engines are being developed for the first release: PHP Lucene, Apache SOLR, Sphinx, MySQL FullText and MySQL inverted index. New engine can be employed without having to rewrite the core application.

Extensibility: support for implementation of custom plugins for parsing and transforming media; user authentication; new value types for fields (eg. custom web-service lookups); generation of accession/id numbers; hooks into UI for additional functionality; file storage API (planned) to allow for Fedora support.

Better Public Access in 0.6

Faceted browsing: browse collections with selective filtering. Ala http://www.lost-films.eu/films.

User-provided content: support for user tagging, commenting and submission of resources.

Improved time-based media presentation: new Flash-based media player provides display of time-based cataloguing during playback and can display synchronized media (eg. images during an audio interview).

Curated sets: tools for creating ordered, annotated sets of objects or authority items and presenting these sets as slideshows, timelines and maps.

Tours: tools for creating location-based “tours” of collections.

All of these features are being developed for existing public access projects and will be open-sourced by their sponsors.

Open Source?

All software is free to download and use. There is no commercial aspect to the project.

GNU Public License version 2 (GPLv2): do what you want with the software. Forever.

Source code is included:

Gives you the freedom and ability to modify the software to suit your needs.

Software can never orphaned as user community has the means (source code and legal rights) to fix bugs and maintain compatibility.

GPLv2 gives you the right to distribute your modifications so long as source code is included.

HistoryProject began in 2003 by Whirl-i-Gig, with roots in web-based cataloguing systems developed in the 1990’s.

First users start working in 2005.

February 2007: first public release.

November 2008: Name change from OpenCollection to CollectiveAccess.

Today: 25 institutional users (that we know about).

February 2009: First five sites begin using 0.6 for work. Include two film archives, a “digital memory” project, a catalogue raisonné and an archive documenting the physical remains of the World Trade Center in NY.

Summer 2009: First public release of 0.6

Selected usersRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Brussels

Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin

Center for Biodiversity Conservation, American Museum of Natural History, New York

Northeast Historic Film, Buckport, ME.

The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY

The Frick Collection, New York

Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York

National Museum of Women Artists, Washington, D.C.

Hansen’s Snobliz, New Orleans, LA

Types of collectionsFine ArtFilmTechnologyArchitectural design archivesCostumes and clothingAnthropology/ethnographic collectionsBiodiversity conservation (field photographs)Oral historyExhibition asset managementCorporate archivesPhotographyHistorical societies

Support

Whirl-i-Gig’s work on CA directly funded by users - all developed code is contractually covered by the GPL.

Indirect funding through our related work in cultural heritage and the natural sciences.

Indirect support from Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, IMLS, NEH, NEA, the New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA) and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs through project partners.

Overarching goals

Develop broad-based international user community.

Establish CA as a viable platform for the widest practical range of uses in as many locales as possible.

Develop support infrastructure: net-based community support as well as local consultants.

Establish productive collaborations with complementary projects.

Thank you!

Questions or comments?

Contact: Seth Kaufman (seth@CollectiveAccess.org)

For more information on CollectiveAccess: http://www.CollectiveAccess.org