JULY 27 - AUGUST 2, 2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MUSEUM
Staff works to digitize art
Employees are digitally recording the Spencer Museum's collection
BY ADAM LAND
aland@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
In a makeshift studio, on the 4th floor of Spencer Museum of Art, photographers and volunteers are digitizing the Spencer collection.
Kerri Henderson/KANSAN
Official at the museum, located south of Strong Hall, decided to digitize its collection several years ago, said Sofia Galarza Liu, museum collection manager and database project co-manager.
Digitizing involves capturing images of the art and storing them in a computer. The reason for digitizing is that the museums collection is far too large to put on display,
Liu said. She said the museum wanted the digitized collection to be on the University of Kansas' digital library online. Eventually the museum wants to put the collection on the Internet, but Liu said there was not a set date for that project to begin.
Viewers and cataloguers will be able to search in the collection by artist/maker, date, physical subject (i.e. type of photo or painting) and material.
The process can be long and costly, more than $100,000 dollars, Liu said. To try and combat some of the cost, the museum applied for a $149,000 grant from the Institute of Museums and Library Services two years
ago, she said.
The museum's staff has captured and catalogued more than 8,000 items, Liu said.
When the staff began the digitization process they thought the museum contained approximately 25,000 items, said Bill Woodard, director of communications for the museum. But after they began capturing images they realized the museum contained about 26,000.
The main reason for digitizing the collection is not only to allow people to see more of the collection, but to capture fragile or decaying items, Liu said.
Certain items, such as photographs and textiles, can only be in the light for a certain amount of time without sustaining damage, Liu said.
Students and faculty will not have to wait for the process to be completely finished to view
The Spencer Museum collection is undergoing a digital makeover. All the items in the collection will be photographed and archived in an electronic database. Over 8,000 of the 26,000 items in the museum's collection have been added to the system.
photos online because the museum's staff will post at different times as they progress, Liu said. The University population will be able to view some of the recently captured photos this fall, Liu said.
The collection contains items ranging from paintings, photographs, prints, textiles and other types of art.
— Edited by Erin M. Droste
Kerri Henderson/KANSAN
Above: Nate Thames, Wichita junior, edits one of 26,000 pieces of art that will be archived in an electronic database. Right: The Spencer Museum is undergoing a digital makeover. All the items in the collection will be archived in an electronic database.
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