NLI’s Digital Photo Collection Display Infrastructure

EVA\Minerva 2013Danny Streifler, Digital Photo Collections Project Manager

What I will talk about today

• The context and variety of digital photo collections within NLI, including the CJA collection

• NLI’s Infrastructure\Architecture for displaying Photo Collections:• Dedicated Minisites• Browsing Interface and Viewer

• Challenges we face with CJA material• Near-future development plans

A Few Words About Us• The National Library of Israel, a 120 year old

institution

• In charge of collecting, preserving, cultivating and disseminating the cultural heritage of the Jewish People and the citizens of Israel

Our Collection Focal Points

Variety of Materials

Variety of Photographic Materials

• Complete Photographer Archives (Amateur & Professional)

• Photo Album Collections (Institutional, Personal)

• Portrait Collections

• Archival Collections (CJA…)

Kinneret, 1933

Jerusalem, c. 1940

Kaiser Wilhelm’s Visit to Jerusalem, 1898

Indpendence Day, 1949

Ein Charod, 1932 Portrait of Sigmund Freud

Levant Fair (Construction), 1934 Bus Passengers, Ramat Gan, 1932

Synagogue in Greece Esther Scroll, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Synagogue in Lithuania Synagogue in Samarkand

Infrastructure for Displaying Photographic Collections

Minisite Browsing\Discovery Interface

Minisite FundamentalsMaking our collections easy to understand and navigate• Emphasizing each collections’ uniqueness, Without the

need to read a lot of text

• Enabling Quick grasping of each collection’s scope

• Quick access to collection highlights for the general public

• Full access to the whole collection and advanced search options straight from the collection homepage

• Emphasis on Usage Rights

• Maintaining a standard user experience across the board

• Bilingual at least, trilingual later on

Browsing Interface Fundamentals

Empowering users to get the results they need• “Google like” search, with ranking mechanisms

• Thumbnails show a preview of each image

• Facets allow real-time filtrations of search results, tailored to each collection’s needs

• Brief and full details available on same page

• Various viewing options (List view, Gallery view)

Current and Future Challenges – CJA

•Adapting to a library oriented system

•Displaying complex objects in a user friendly manner

•Connecting related materials within and between collections in a meaningful and exciting manner

•Manuscripts as an example

Near-Future Development Plans

•New Viewer, allowing better image handling and concurrent display of full image + metadata (imminent)

•Improved Gallery Interface

•Geographic component allowing map-based display and browsing of collections

•Timeline component

•Improved “Museum Gallery” components

•Enhancing and developing our Photo Portal

Questions?

NLI – CJAMissing Link

Thank you for your attention!

Danny StreiflerDanny.Streifler@nli.org.il