“Then Into the Dumpster They Go…” Really?

This is a good opportunity to build on Leigh's and Barbara's recent posts weaving into this mix the practical advice offered in a recent thread on the Visual Resources Association Listserv.

The initiator of the thread sought collective professional advice on what to do with her academic institution's instructional collection of 160,000 35mm slides. This collection which had supported an academic program and contains some original photography as well as many slides of works that are included in ARTstor and other image databases is no longer being used. The former users and their successors now find their materials online, and the space that this analog collection occupies is needed for other purposes. Our visual resources colleague wanted advice about: 1) the criteria for keeping or discarding a slide, 2) whether or not some slides should be kept on site rather than to send the entire collection into storage, and 4) on the most environmentally friendly way of disposing of discarded slides.

The advice that our colleague received to guide her weeding project was typically pragmatic:

• Consider retaining slides that are camera originals contributed by your faculty and students. They can be scanned and added to your institutional collection.

• Discard items that match images in existing ARTstor and other local and licensed image collections available in your institution. This may require checking to find exact replications of the images you have in 35mm format although exact matches may not be important if the overall digital coverage of an artist or area is sufficient. Some groups of images will require image by image or site by site checking while others can be eliminated more expeditiously.

• Target sections of your slide collection for evaluation that either are or are not well represented in the digital image databases your users have access to. Check item by item—artist by artist—work by work. When you find a digital equivalent of decent quality that is identical or close enough, discard the slide.

• Discard slides that you have already added to your institutional digital image collection.

• Use your local digital asset management database to generate reports of existing digital holdings to identify those artists, sites, or subject areas for which you have many works and for those works for which you have many digital images. Obviously the reverse strategy might also be useful.

• Replace slides purchased from vendors with licensed subscriptions to digital equivalents.

• Identify groups of slides that can be quickly cataloged, scanned, and added to your institutional collection. Develop a prioritized list of works or buildings which should be digitized from slides remembering that it is more efficient to scan an image directly from a source publication than to digitize the same image from a slide.

• Discard slides that were copied from text book sets; discard slides in teaching sets.

• Prioritize the building of your local digital image collection to support current teaching needs.

• Consult with the faculty who teach with material from a specific area before undergoing a mass de-accessioning. Some may want to keep these slides for their own collections; some will have important advice about what is important to save and what isn’t. They all need to understand the process.

• Use student employees—graduate students, SLIS students, and art history students—by assigning them sections of the collection to evaluate. Lay out a group of slides on a light table to facilitate the process of discarding out of focus, pink, moldy, and duplicate slides before beginning the checking process. This process is often iterative.

• It cost less to spend the time checking to determine whether a digital image already exists than to scan, catalog, and upload a new image file.

• Consolidate your slide drawers to compact your remaining holdings; expansion space is no longer needed.

• While slides are not recyclable, they are often useful to faculty and students for art projects. You may be able to give them away to faculty members or other interested individuals. They could be transformed into collectible items such your own version of the Getty’s “Art to Go Bags” (http://www.gettymuseumstore.org/arttogobag.html). You want to avoid the dumpster which leads to a trip to the local landfill if possible.

• Determine whether your weeded collection should be placed in accessible storage so interested patrons of staff will have limited access to it or whether it should go into archival storage.

This brings us to Leigh’s food historian gourmand. The visual fruits of this scholar’s research into all things tasty—his classified collection of 35mm slides as well as the lectures that accompanied these images--is at risk of being lost to scholarship because of a lack of financial and administrative support to transform this corpus into an online resource. Many academic institutions currently face similar situations because those scholars of the visual who are now retiring primarily created and maintained analog slide collections. The digital collections being created by current scholars while equally valuable for preservation present a different set of preservation and descriptive issues.

It is these visual pockets of original research and contribution to visual learning and knowledge that are important to identify, save, and preserve. They play a role in defining the unique at an institution by preserving the essence of the work and personalities of eminent scholars and inspiring teachers over time. These collections contribute to the reputation of an institution by helping to define and high light those intellectual endeavors that distinguish this institution from all others. It is these collections that in digital form enrich learning within the institution and can be shared with others. This is the material that must be rescued from the dumpster to be saved and preserved.

Now comes Barbara’s part—finding the funding to make these projects possible. Her advice is sound and approaches the problem from the bottom starting locally and building upon prior experience. Committed faculty support and endorsement of these projects is a critical part of this process. Yes, funding is often available, but you must persevere to get it.

Bon appetit!

Recently it was reported that one of the most important photographic archives of the twentieth century was being shipped by trailer truck from New York City to Austin, Texas. The entire collection, more than 180,000 images known as press prints, had been amassed by the Magnum photo cooperative, whose members had been among the most important photojournalists of their time. The archive has been sold to the private investment firm for the family of Michael Dell, the Texas computer tycoon. Fortunately, the new owners have reached an agreement with the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin to locate it there, for study and exhibition, for at least the next five years.

Thomas F. Staley, the director of the Ransom Center, said that it planned to scan every image in the collection, of which Magnum itself had scanned fewer than half, in order to order to make them accessible for historical research and exhibitions.

This is just one of several significant archives of vintage visual material, including those of the New York Times and National Geographic Society, which has recently been targeted for digitization. These are invaluable and irreplaceable repositories of our culture and times. This is heartening, especially in light of the expense and labor involved. But it has me worried about the more modest, locally significant collections with which we are all familiar, which are being consigned to the landfills of history, for want of expertise, direction and funding.

For example, an art historian emeritus at the School of the Art Institute had left, as part of his estate, his considerable personal collection of slides, amassed over forty years of teaching. Much of the collection could be found duplicated in any other academic visual resources collection; however, there were pockets of extraordinary images documenting his particular interest in Food, and Food in Art. He was an original foodie, a gourmand, and enthusiastic lover of the sensual rewards of both art and food. He was a popular lecturer locally at culinary institutes, dining establishments and the art school. His slides included photographic documentation of noteworthy meals, the history of food, and the local cuisine found on his many travels, especially in Mexico. There were whole drawers labeled “French Revolution and food” or “Early American feasts” or even “Spam”!

This fascinating collection may never be accessible to the many and diverse audiences that might appreciate it, mostly because of lack of administrative and financial support. Food historians, art historians and other food enthusiasts will perhaps never taste the joys of this particular research and assiduous documentation. Even more frustrating, in a way, is the lack of a way to capture the pedagogy this historian employed, the apposite and humorous observations he made in his lectures. But at least we have the slides as a visual record--for now.

We need to try harder to identify, evaluate and preserve these visual treasure troves close to home. We are in a strong position to be able to advise and direct digital projects to make these images accessible to those who would appreciate them. There is some urgency to this mission, but also the promise of great adventure and astonishment.

To get the Money... do your homework

Now everybody is buzzing, saying it is a great idea to digitize the image collections, if only the money can be found... Grants are a great source for this kind of project, but do your homework first. Write out a project proposal that includes a mission statement which complements the larger organizational mission and includes an assessment of the user’s needs. Always keep in mind the benefits of the project to the end user. All your planning, strategizing, and writing at this point will serve you through every step of the process.

Research the equipment and support needs. Once the costs of the hardware, software, and staffing are determined consider the best strategies for convincing colleagues to “put their money where their mouth is”. The old saying “it takes money to make money” is true. Find seed money to allocate from your own budget then start looking for collaborators. The department, the library, IT, and other departments that use images are likely beneficiaries of the project. Go up the chain, often the President’s office, the alumni association, or Friends groups have funds for special projects. Befriend your organization’s development officers. Use each funding commitment to encourage further contributions by the next group you confer with. Continue to cultivate these contacts even if they do not offer funding immediately. Keep everyone informed about your progress.

It does not matter how small each pledge is, it all adds up! Not only are you raising the money, but you are also raising awareness and building a committed endorsement. When you approach the larger community for funding this demonstration of support will almost be more important than the money gathered from the internal sources.

What are the strategies you have used to get your colleagues involved and committed?

Future posts will discuss types of funding organizations, and provide pointers for writing grant funding requests...

Announcing the formation of the ICCoop

The care and feeding of images

Having worked many years in visual resources,  assisting others in the use of images or visual information, we have come together to share with and advise all those working to use the latest technology to improve access to their collections.

We are experienced users of images, who will provide a range of services to assist you in your planning, funding, implementing, training and managing needs and are located across the USA.

In addition to our paid work we also wish to create a resource here and at our site Imageminders.com for all who are involved, or wish to become involved, in the effort to make our collections, whatever the content, more accessible and useful.
We welcome you to the fun.
The ICCoop
Image Consultants Co-operative