1) ARTstor: http://www.artstor.org.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/index.shtml
a. Selection decisions: ARTstor is a digital image library of approximately 700,000 images for University and library use worldwide. The images cover art, architecture, the humanities and social sciences, with a “set of tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes.” ARTstor enters into digitization partnerships with various University collections to expand its digital image base, which has included the
b. Metadata: There is metadata on the metadata for ARTstor! They have detailed descriptions of each collection, its collection development strategy and progress/process, and the contributors to the collection(s). Additionally, they include information on technical support and policy, training, and handouts for collections, community resources, information for contributing images and academic publications of imagery from the database, and News about upgrades, services, events, reports, and publications. They also host an FAQ page as well as a blog and a newsletter. An interesting feature of ARTstor is their new component called Metasearch. This is how they describe it: “As part of our continued effort to increase the convenience of access to the ARTstor Digital Library, we have developed a new search interface, known as the ARTstor XML Gateway, that supports metasearch (also known as "federated search" or "cross-database search") into ARTstor from external resources. This, in turn, allows some of our participating institutions to include ARTstor results in the metasearch engines they have implemented for their various resource databases.” If you choose to search through the database itself and not a metasearch, you can enter into a typical Boolean search or a keyword search. ARTstor explains all of this at the page leading into the search function(s). You can browse by collection, by classification, or by geography. If you find images of interest to you, ARTstor allows you to save them into groups. This is what they say: “The image group utility within the ARTstor Digital Library allows you to gather, organize, share, review, edit, print, or present your chosen images. Image groups are accessible from anywhere you can log in to the ARTstor Digital Library.” A folder is automatically created for each user when they log in, called “My work folder,” where you can save multiple image groups. It may be password-protected if you choose, and you can create the permissions for the folders you create.
c. Characteristics of the objects (in the exhibition) and the exhibition as an object: Institutions typically enter a site-wide license with ARTstor through their library. Access is granted through IP authentication. Site licenses to ARTstor allow unlimited number of simultaneous users to access the Digital Library, both on-site and remotely via username/password. One can browse content, search content, or download a number of different handouts on specific areas of specialization pertinent to collections within the ARTstor database. By clicking on the “Enter the ARTstor database,” you can browse the actual image collection, instead of just reading about it. This transports you to their own interface, with their own “home,” “back,” and “history” buttons. Once at the search interface, you have several search options: you can search by folder or image group, or perform a basic search through all collections. Once terms have been entered in the search bar, thumbnails fill almost the whole screen, with a small upper-left-hand window telling you how many search results you have and allowing you to scroll from page to page of thumbnails. Each thumbnail contains its associated metadata underneath it, usually the date, title/description, and culture (depending on the objects searched – there might be more information for certain objects or cultures). They tell you to click on an image to select it (why?), double-click to enlarge, and click on one of the metadata tags for more information. For each enlarged thumbnail, you can report an error, take a link to the terms and conditions, or hide the captions (presumably to print). The enlarged images have visible watermarks on them, reading “Evaluation Copy.” Although you can zoom in, the image becomes more blurry. You do get the option to print or save, but you must first accept the terms and conditions and be able to run their downloading applet. When you click on the image metadata, you are taken to the image catalog information, which gives a more detailed reading of the object description, media, dimensions, use, and culture information. There is also information on the contributing (partnership) institution, rights information, and original documentation from the contributing institution. In some cases, a link is provided to the institution’s website. They also give the file’s properties, including dimensions, in their tab marked “file properties.”
d. The intended audience: According to ARTstor’s Overview page, http://www.artstor.org.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/what-is-artstor/w-html/artstor-overview.shtml , “The ARTstor Digital Library is used by educators, scholars, and students at a variety of institutions including universities, colleges, museums, public libraries, and K-12 schools. The Digital Library serves users both within the arts and in disciplines outside of the arts. This includes historians of art and architecture and others engaged in the visual arts, as well as individuals in fields as diverse as American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, Literary Studies, Medieval Studies, Music, Religious Studies, and Renaissance Studies, all of whom find the images in ARTstor to be relevant to their teaching and research.” Although most of these images are high quality and the intent was for research and educational purposes, there have been issues with interoperability and enlargement, downloading times and uses in powerpoint. Faculty have been slow to use ARTstor and feel comfortable with its interface.
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