Piloting an online collections platform for historic Black Mountain College resources

FAIN: PW-277369-21

Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center (Asheville, NC 28801-2916)
Jeff Arnal (Project Director: July 2020 to September 2023)

A plan for metadata standards, accessibility, user needs, and long-term strategic planning and sustainability for Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center’s collections, as well as the pilot implementation of a digital collections management system and online collections portal with approximately 1,000 digital items.

Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center requests $50,000 to develop a pilot project creating online access to a part of its permanent collection. This will be an invaluable resource for scholars studying Black Mountain College’s history and legacy as it includes the creative output of groundbreaking figures in American culture from 1933 to the present, across visual, performing, and literary arts. Outputs for this planning period will include development and population of the back-end and front-end of a new collections management system, and documents detailing strategies and standards for future implementation. An earlier related phase, funded by the Luce and Windgate Foundations, involved the digitization of BMCM+AC resources which will be used as pilot data and media for the online collections portal. The project will take place from June 2021-September 2022. Full implementation at a later date will entail digitizing and adding the rest of the collection.

Associated Products

Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center Digital Collections Portal (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center Digital Collections Portal
Author: Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center
Abstract: Public portal for the digital collections of Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, including Permanent Collection, Research Library, and documentation of past exhibitions and programs. BMCM+AC also provides login-only access to the back-end of this portal, which includes over 1,000 additional records.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: http://collections.blackmountaincollege.org
Primary URL Description: Public URL for BMCM+AC’s digital collections.
Access Model: Open access

BMCM+AC User Needs Survey Report (Report)
Title: BMCM+AC User Needs Survey Report
Author: Taylor Barrett
Abstract: Report derived from surveys with potential users to determine preferences such as which features will be most useful for BMCM+AC’s digital collections portal.
Date: 09/30/2022
Access Model: Internal to BMCM+AC staff, board, and project team.

BMCM+AC Digital Collections Workflow (Report)
Title: BMCM+AC Digital Collections Workflow
Author: Taylor Barrett
Author: Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center
Abstract: Guidelines for staff use of CollectiveAccess; importing/exporting data; standards for manual additions, quality assurance, edits, and deletions by staff; and digital preservation policies.
Date: 09/30/2022
Access Model: Internal to BMCM+AC staff, board, and project team.

BMCM+AC Digital Collections Strategic Plan (Report)
Title: BMCM+AC Digital Collections Strategic Plan
Author: Taylor Barrett
Abstract: High-level guidance on priorities and long-term use of BMCM+AC’s digital collections platform as identified by consultant through user needs assessments and discussions.
Date: 09/30/2022
Access Model: Internal to BMCM+AC staff, board, and project team.

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