1st Exhibit Post

“‘Very Ill!’: The Many Faces of Medical Caricature in Nineteenth-Century England and France” Exhibit at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Library
1) Collection Principles: A specific donation to the Health Sciences Library created this small focused collection and paid for the restoration of the originals. Currently, the originals are on display and the whole collection has been digitized for this online exhibition. There is no mention of the digitization process for this collection, but credit was given to those who created the format of the webpage. It seems that the library digitized this collection as an isolated body, perhaps as part of the bequest, rather than as part of a larger digitization initiative.
2) Metadata: Title, publication, and date information is given beside each item in the exhibit. The items are organized as an exhibit primarily, first by country then by subject, with interpretive and historical notes attached that try to place the items within the exhibit rather than elucidating the background of the specific item. The items cannot be searched, and are nowhere grouped together as a whole.
3) Object Characteristics: Each separate image has a unique title, which is used consistently throughout the site to refer to that image. All the images are in color, and although there is no specified information on the size or resolution of the images, they all appear to be high quality and as true to the originals as possible. Double clicking on any image within the exhibit will enlarge the image in a separate window for closer study. The images do not seem to be digitally protected in any way, and there is no information as to reproduction or use policies.
4) Intended Audience: To me, it seems that the library digitized this collection more as an adjunct to the physical exhibit than as a part of a digitization initiative or with long-term digital preservation as a main goal. The audience would then most likely be scholars or enthusiasts interested in medicine and its social impact who perhaps cannot visit the exhibit in person. A researcher actively searching for images like these would not likely find this resource unless they already knew about it.