Kathy Thaxter Spark #3 Collection of Katherine Thaxter: MEMORIX

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1 Kathy Thaxter Spark #3 Collection of Katherine Thaxter: MEMORIX INTRODUCTION The Ix Art Park is Charlottesville, Virginia s first major artistic commons originally conceived by Briam Wimer, a local filmmaker and Ludwig Kuttner, a real estate developer and owner of the Ix property. In its former life, the Ix property was the home to the now defunct Frank Ix and Sons Textile Factory. The Ix Art Park project was part of the Strategic Investment Area plan for downtown Charlottesville developed in The purpose of this collection is to create and preserve a record of past and current development of the Ix property through archival documents, including historic and contemporary objects. MEMORIX is a digital collection dedicated to memorializing the development of the Ix Art Park through archival objects. The collection features archival materials reflecting on the history of the Ix Art Park and current materials that promote upcoming happenings. In addition to telling its origin story, the wide scope of items included in the collection is intended to demonstrate the range of cultural and creative activity that abounds at the Ix Art Park. MISSION The mission of MEMORIX is to construct a digital history of development and to provide exposure to objects from past and current events at the Ix Art Park. AUDIENCE The materials of MEMORIX are discoverable and accessible to the general public. The target audience of MEMORIX is tourists, Charlottesville locals, newcomers, artists and researchers of history. Users of all ages are welcome. GOALS To educate users about the origins of the Ix Art Park. To educate users about current uses of the Ix Art Park. To support the informational needs of our users. To preserve materials related to the context and function of the Ix Art Park. To promote future events at the Ix Art Park.

2 COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT Items must have sufficient informative value that they support the mission of the collection in educating users about the Ix Art Park. Items in consideration are subject to the standards of MEMORIX s acquisition policy. The User Survey on the landing page of the MEMORIX site is used for collection development purposes. The responses of users help to evaluate the needs of the real-life audience and to create a criteria framework against which to judge potential items. SELECTION POLICY Consideration for the acquisition of items to the collection is contingent upon: 1. Operational value: the item must support the mission of the MEMORIX project; 2. Informational value: the item must demonstrate sufficient information to be valuable to users; 3. Demand: there must be a need for the information contained by the object; and 4. Funding: the object must be valuable enough to merit the use of digitization funds. (Hunter 2003) GUIDELINES FOR DIGITIZATION Still Images and Text Instructions for digitizing visual objects, including photographs and text works: 1. Wash hands and/or apply gloves when required 2. Turn on Scanner 3. Turn on Computer 4. Place item on scanner 5. Open HP Scan and Capture from desktop a. Select correct resolution, bit depth, color, etc., chosen by Project Team b. Scan c. Preview 6. Review file for quality. Save as JPEG or PDF in project folder i. Add metadata elements: - Title - Subject - Description - Creator - Publisher - Contributors - Date 2 P age

3 - Type - Format - Source - Language - Coverage 7. Save changes 8. Close file (USC 2003). Specifications: File Formats: 600 ppi, 24-bit RGB color, 16-bit grayscale jpeg, pdf Sound Recordings Specifications: File formats: Bitrate 256 Kbps mp3 Moving Images Specifications: Video encoded as H.264, Audio encoded as AAC, 44.1 khz, 256 kbps, Bitrate 5.0 Mbps File Formats: mp4 (Yale n.d.) ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION Metadata Standards Standards: Dublin Core Elements: Title, Subject, Description, Creator, Publisher, Contributors, Date, Type, Format, Source, Language, Coverage Controlled Vocabulary: Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI), Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) Description Rules: Date must be formatted YYYY-MM-DD ; for items documenting artistic works, AAT must be used; for all other subjects LCSH must be used. Object types include still image, text, sound recording and moving image. ACCESS Landing Page The landing page of the digital collection features an image carousel that displays thumbnails and titles of objects from the collection, which link to individual item pages. Users can scroll through the thumbnail images on the carousel to see previews of the array of objects. Users 3 P age

4 can also access items through the Recent Additions sidebar. If users wish to view a listing of all of the items in the collection with more detailed information, they may click the Browse All tab. Search Interface Users have the option to use the search bar on the landing page or to select Advanced Search. 4 P age

5 Search results are sorted in order by relevance and are displayed in a grid format. The user has the option to sort the results using a different element, such as title, subject, description, type or format. Details listed in the result previews include thumbnail image, title, subject, description and collection. Users can also search within the results of their initial query. Another option is to use the Advanced Search tool. Using the Advanced Search tool, users can search for multiple terms in multiple categories simultaneously. The categories include title, subject, description, creator, type and format. Users can also select the Boolean operators AND or OR. Users can decide whether they want to search for all of the words, any of the words, none of the words or exact phrase. The user can add as many fields as they like. 5 P age

6 The results of the advanced search from the example above contain the words sculpture AND galaxy. FUNCTIONS On the item description pages, users have the options to print, download or share the objects on a number of social media platforms. 6 P age

7 Users can also rate, tag and comment on the objects. 7 P age

8 SERVICES Reference On the landing page the user is invited to submit general questions or comments via the Contact Us link or to fill out a Reference Request Form. FAQ s The landing page also contains a link to a list of Frequently Asked Questions, complete with instructional material regarding use of the digital collection. FIELD TEST For my field tests I instructed each user to evaluate the site and then provide comments, questions, likes and dislikes using the User Survey. The User Survey contains questions regarding both the MEMORIX site and items in the collection. 1. User 1: Male, age 30, Charlottesville tourist Overall User 1 was satisfied in all areas of the digital collection. Based on the survey results, User 1 strongly agreed with ease of use, ease of navigation, interestingness of items and informative/helpful item descriptions. User 1 agreed to all other questions of user satisfaction, including attractiveness, intuitiveness, informative/helpful value of items, quality of items and discoverability. User 1 also 8 P age

9 agreed that he would recommend the collection to a friend. To the question which category of items did you find most informative and helpful? User 1 answered newspaper and magazine articles. In the Comments section of the survey, User 1 answered, the pop-up windows when you scroll over a collection item are very convenient. Gives you a quick summary of the item without having to open it in a whole new window. 2. User 2: Female, age 64, Charlottesville local User 2 strongly agreed with all statements of user satisfaction except for I am able to quickly find what I need on the website, with which she agreed. Like User 1, User 2 felt that newspapers and magazine articles were the most informative and helpful items in the collection. In the comments section User 2 answered Learned a lot about a local place of interest. 3. User 3: Male, age 33, Charlottesville tourist User 3 seemed to have more difficulty and was less satisfied with the collection. User 3 agreed that the collection is easy to use, attractive and useful. User 3 agreed that the items in the collection are informative, helpful, interesting and that item descriptions contain sufficient detail. Navigation is where User 3 seemed to have struggled. User 3 responded neutrally to questions of ease of navigation, ease of discoverability and ease of searching. User 3 felt that posters, fliers, brochures and/or advertisements were the most informative and helpful objects in the collection. In the comments section User 3 wrote, the website is generally attractive, but it was a little difficult to navigate and find information that was not readily available. I think also having the blurb regarding the purpose of the MEMORIX site towards the very top of the page and not under the collections may help users/viewers understand the purpose of the site immediately upon navigating to it. Conclusions The takeaway from these field tests is that objects like newspaper and magazine articles as well as advertising materials are most in demand by users. Considering their demand value, MEMORIX will place a heavier emphasis on these types of objects in collection development. MEMORIX will also address the issue of navigation and discoverability by adding improved search features, including a search portal. Another solution for the problem of discoverability would be the addition of finding aids. FUTURE The current holdings of the MEMORIX collection are a miniscule representation of the wealth of objects MEMORIX wishes to preserve. MEMORIX intends to construct a more substantial, fluent history by adding objects, including types that are currently underrepresented, like sound recordings and moving images. In addition, MEMORIX wishes to improve the user experience by building upon the functionality of its website, including search and navigation 9 P age

10 features. MEMORIX also hopes to add interactive features to its website to immerse users in a meaningful and cooperative experience. References: Hunter, G. S. (2003). Developing and maintaining practical archives: A how-to-do-it manual (2nd ed.). New York: Neal-Schuman. University of South Carolina Digital Library Scanning and Imaging Practices. (2003). Retrieved September, 2016, from Yale Audiovisual. (n.d.). Retrieved September, 2016, from 10 P age