Collection description
Museum, library and archive collections are aggregations of
physical or digital items. Digital items may be digital versions
or surrogates of physical items, or 'born-digital'. A
'collection-level description' provides information about the
collection as a whole rather than about individual items within
it. Although descriptions of collections make take the form
of plain text, in an increasingly networked world it is
advantageous to describe collections using structured
standardised formats.
Collection Description Focus
MLA supports the work of the Collection
Description Focus at UKOLN, which builds on the work of
the Collection
Description Schema developed by the Research Support Libraries Programme.
Collection Description Service
MLA is working to enhance the existing investment in the creation
of digital content and, for users, shorten the journey between
their question and the answer. One element will be a National
Collection Description service that promotes access to museum,
library and archive collections. This Service builds on three initiatives:
-
MICHAEL – enables access
to the inventory of the UK’s digital cultural collections;
-
Cornucopia – the
inventory of the physical collections held by
museums, libraries and archives in the UK ;
- Institution Server – the registry of museums, libraries,
archives and cultural institutions in the UK and their
addresses.
The Collection Description Service
overview contains a diagram showing how these interrelate.
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