IIIF Consulting: American Art Collaborative

  Glen Robson    |      November 01, 2017

The IIIF Consortium has partnered with the American Art Collaborative (AAC) to provide technical consulting for eight AAC museums as part of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation. In collaboration with Sara and Ben Brumfield of Brumfield Labs, and Jason Ronallo, Department Head of Digital Library Initiatives at NCSU Libraries, the museums were given a hands-on workshop and specific recommendations for implementing IIIF.

On behalf of the American Art Collaborative Rachel M. Allen said:

“The American Art Collaborative (AAC), fourteen art museums working together to implement linked open data, got terrific support from the IIIF Consortium. Art museums come from a strong visual culture so IIIF excited the museums from the first demonstration. The hands-on workshops that IIIF-C developed for the AAC partners provided exactly the information needed to support the partners, helping them move from enthusiastic interest to implementation.”

The collaboration has produced the following outputs for the IIIF community:

  • An implementation guide from Brumfield Labs to assist Museums implementing IIIF.
  • A questionnaire to help institutions think about the implications and practical issues with providing access to their images through IIIF. Available here.
  • A two day workshop written by Jason Ronallo available as a GitBook: http://ronallo.com/iiif-workshop/.

The collaboration in combination with community involvement will also lead to improvements in the IIIF Quick Start Guide.

The 8 museums that were part of this project were:

  • Walters Art Museum
  • National Portrait Gallery
  • Archives of American Art
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum
  • Dallas Museum of Art
  • Indianapolis Museum of Art
  • Crystal Bridges Museum of Art
  • Colby College Museum of Art