Message-Id: <mailto:199510242059.PAA02498@library.wustl.edu> Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 16:49:11 -0400 From: Anthony Troncale <mailto:atroncale@NYPL.ORG> Subject: Union databases on WWW To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
With the ever-growing numbers of web pages out there, how does one
know for sure if one has found everything there is to know about
_Ansel Adams_ on the WWW?
It seems to me that we should be trying to consolidate the web with
the creation of union web sites dealing with particular subjects.
More than ever, cultural institutions should explore more fully the
idea of shared resources and the www is the ideal venue. Libraries
have long used this model to divide up cataloging duties and even
areas of collecting responsibilities so that precious expenditures
achieve the maximum effect for the most number of people.
Why have 15 web sites containing photographs by Ansel Adams when one
site with all the images and data tied to one page would do?
An _Ansel Adams Home Port_ would act as a Union Database or clearing
house that would point scholars to the institutions who hold the
photos. But the entire image database would be there at ones
fingertips for browsing, regardless of who holds the image.
Of course, Ansel is just being used as an example here. By convincing
institutions to consolidate their data on subject specific Home
Ports(for lack of a better term) we could both streamline the research
process and reduce traffic on the net.
Home Ports could also facilitate the indexing process for search/index
engines and would result in better, more accurate hits.
I am curious if others have ideas along these lines.
Robert MacKimmie (California Historical Socitey) and I (Anthony
Troncale, Photography Collection, New York Public Library) are
contemplating creating a Home Port for the works of the 19th century
photographer Carleton E. Watkins. If your institution has Watkins
holdings, we would like to hear from you about participating.
"You push the button, we do the rest"
george eastman