[4 replies]

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[-1-]
From: Geert Souvereyns <geert.souvereynsvlaamsekunstcollectie.be>
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 11:46

Dear madam Goldman,

I received your mail concerning digital image databases. At the moment
I'm coordinating the creation of an image database to make accessible
the collection of three art historical museums of Flanders: the
Groeninge Museum in Bruges, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp
and the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent. These three museums have formed
a structural partnership, called "vlaamsekunstcollectie" (Flanders Art
Collection). Each museum has its own electronic registration system,
and we use the software program CollectionConnection to extract
information of the three different systems and make this information
searchable. Therefore the museums had to make agreements about the
uniformity of description in certain fields of the "mother" databases.
We followed as much as possible international standards of description
for the most important fields ("Dublin Core-fields").
The project is still in progress. You can see a first and still very
modest presentation on www.vlaamsekunstcollectie.be. In the future
this site will also be available in English.
The advantage of CollectionConnection is that it can extract
information from different collection registration systems and make it
accessible in online catalogues and virtual exhibitions. In this way
it's possible to create different presentations with different
partners (museums).
For Flanders Art Collection, it was the perfect solution, as each
museum could keep its own registration system and didn't have to do a
(mostly very time-consuming)conversion. More information about
CollectionConnection, you can find on www.collectionconnection.nl.

Sincerely,
Geert Souvereyns

Coordination vlaamsekunstcollectie
Gent
Belgium
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[-2-]
From: Miriam Paeslack <miriamga-ga.org>
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 11:19

Dear Natasha,

My department is in the process of becoming a member of the German
based digital image database PROMETHEUS.
This is a free database that relies on the contribution of digitised
images (of a specifically determined standard, i.e. resolution, size,
information given with the image, source, etc.) by its members
(museums, galleries, art schools, universities). However, your
department can also become member, if you are not able to provide
digital images yourself. It currently holds about 150.000 images and
is fast growing. Check out the website for further details:

www.prometheus-bildarchiv.de
Contact:
Dr. Holger Simon
Kunsthistorisches Institut der Universitaet zu Koeln
An St. Laurentius 8
D-50923 Koeln
Tel. 0221-470 3509 Sekr. -470 2362
Fax. 0221-470 5044
http://www.h-simon.info
http://www.prometheus-bildarchiv.de

While teaching in the USA my college was also considering the use of a
digital database called ARTStore. This is a commercial site (for
teaching), initiated by the Mellon Foundation and currently containing
ca. 300.000 images. They are going to expand their holdings of modern
and contemporary art as soon as copyright questions are resolved.

Contact person at ARTStore is:
Javanica Curry
Library Relations Assistant
ARTstor
149 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10010
Telephone: 212-358-6400
Fax: 212-358-6499
www.artstor.org
participationartstor.org

Both programs provide for a display-program similar to power point,
with features such as the option for showing two or three images at
the same time or detail enlargement. It is hard to compare both
databases since ARTstor is a much larger and commercial undertaking
whereas PROMETHEUS is basically a non-profit for teaching and
educational purposes.
I would be very interested in hearing about your experiences with
Portfolio 7, MDID, and Re:Discovery and your general considerations
choosing a database.

Sincerely,

Dr. Miriam Paeslack
Bild- und Kulturwissenschaften/Visual- and Cultural Studies
Hochschule fuer Grafik und Buchkunst/Academy of Visual Arts
Leipzig

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[-3-]
From: Hubertus Kohle <Hubertus.Kohlelrz.uni-muenchen.de>
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 08:25

Dear Natasha Goldman,
this is a wide field. I have just one advice: take an open source
database, if you do not want to become dependent on exclusive solutions!
Sincerely

Prof. Dr. Hubertus Kohle
Institut für Kunstgeschichte der LMU
München
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[-4-]
From: Rupert Shepert <rupertferrara.u-net.com>
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 09:54

Not quite what Dr Goldman is asking for, but the information about
different image systems on the website of the Technical Advisory
Service for Images, aimed specifically at Higher Education
institutions, may be useful.
Follow the links from
http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/delivering/delivering.html

Best wishes,
Rupert Shepherd