Art Museum Workshop on Sustaining Digital Collections

FAIN: PG-51215-11

Mills College (Oakland, CA 94613-1301)
Stephanie Hanor (Project Director: May 2010 to November 2012)

Hiring two consultants to offer workshops on best practices and standards for digital preservation and access, digital archiving, and metadata storage. The Art Museum's permanent collection is global in its variety and includes European and American prints and drawings from the 16th century to the present, Asian scrolls and Indian miniature paintings, photographs, 20th-century Native American basketry, South American textiles, and a significant collection of embroidered silk Fukusa, ceremonial gift covers popular among the aristocracy of Japan during the Edo period (1615-1867).

To support an on-site two-part workshop on best practices and standards for sustaining digital collections, as well as care and handling of collections during digitization for the Mills College Art Museum staff. With over 8,000 objects, the Mills College Art Museum has the largest permanent collection of any liberal arts college in the western United States. Visibility and accessibility of the collection are a key priority for the Museum, yet very few works in the collection are digitally documented. This workshop will provide important information as the Museum's staff plans a collection digitization program from the ground up, so best practices are set from the beginning and sustained into the future.