Volunteers at cultural institutions can help contribute to Trove, a digital library tool from the National Library of Australia, in several ways: 1) By correcting text in historical newspaper articles related to topics of interest like particular artists. 2) Adding comments and context to records from their own institution's files to provide more background, like describing the contents of artist ephemera files or providing more location details for images. 3) Creating virtual exhibitions, reading lists, or research folders using Trove's list-making feature to showcase their institution's collections online.

1. Ideas for how Volunteers at
cultural heritage
institutions can help.
Using Trove as a tool
(with a focus on Art).
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
November 2010
Rose Holley: Trove Manager
National Library of Australia
rholley@nla.gov.au
Warning: This presentation contains the names of Aboriginal people now deceased

2. 2

3. Trove
• Background and development
• Searching Trove
• User engagement
• How volunteers can help

4. NLA Strategic Directions 2009-2011
“We will explore new models for creating and
sharing information and for collecting
materials, including supporting the creation
of knowledge by our users. “
(not just NLA resources… all Australian content)
“The changing expectations of users that they
will not be passive receivers of information,
but rather contributors and participants in
information services.”
4

5. IT Development
Learning the ‘art of with’ Charles Leadbeater
Not to people
Not for people
WITH PEOPLE (USERS)
Public feedback drives the development:
CRITICAL, RELEVANT, INTERESTING
5

6. Important to Users
• Connections • Sharing
• Linkages • Re-purposing
• Related • Mashing
• Context • Adding
Give users:
Access to resources + Tools to do stuff
Freedom and choices
Ways to work collaboratively together
6

7. Content sources - Trove
Australian Collaborative Open sources
Services • Open Library (Internet
• ANBD – 1000 libraries Archive)
• Pandora - websites • Hathi Trust
• ARO - Research • OAISTER
• RAAM - Archives
• Picture Australia Targets – websites
• Australian Newspapers •Amazon
•Wikipedia
90 million items •Google Books/Videos
7
•Flickr

8. Methods of data collection
• Libraries • Open Archives Initiative
• Galleries (OAI)
• Museums • Application
• Archives Programmers Interface
(API)
• FTP/HTTP
(Deep web hidden in
collection databases…) • Sitemaps
8

9. Significant art resources in Trove
• From OAISTER e.g. VADS, Brigham Young Museum of
Art
• Dictionary of Australian Artists Online - Biographies
• NGA – Australian Art and Artists File
• Full text historic Australian newspapers – art reviews
• Australian research outputs - art
• The ANBD including non-digitised picture records
• Digitised pictures from Picture Australia

10. Picture Australia vs Trove
Picture Australia Trove
Format : Images only Images, sound, video, books, archives,
maps, websites, biographies, journals,
newspapers, research outputs.
Content type: Digital only Digital and non-digital
Size: 2 million 90 million
User engagement: Add own images Add own images AND forum,
comments, tags, rating, lists,
corrections.
Subject Focus: Australian pictures Anything Australian
Contributors: 60 1300
Metadata display: ‘old catalogue style’ FRBR (works and grouped versions)

11. Topic based art searches
Hans Heysen Find and get information
Queenie McKenzie about artists and their
Albert Namatjira artworks
Arthur Streeton
Rabbit proof fence Background research on
topics by artists
Teapots
Collecting art

12. Single search
Restrict
search
browse
groups/
zones
12

13. Hans Heysen (1877-1968)
groups/zones
results
Get item
Refine/limit search results

15. Is it in copyright?
How do I refer to it?
15

16. How can I get it?
Online
Borrow
Buy
Copy

17. Hidden archives

18. Full text newspapers

19. Interviews, oral history, video, music

20. Biographies

22. Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube

23. Pictures – digitised and not
Minimise zones

24. Objects

25. Queenie McKenzie (1915-1998)
press clippings, invitations, ephemera

26. Conversations with women- finding aid

27. Archived websites

28. 10 years of indigenous art for sale in
Ochre Gallery

29. 2009
2001

30. Background research for film

31. Collecting art – teapots on exhibition

32. Interaction at article level

33. Fix text – power edit mode

34. Show all corrections
34

35. Context – Tools - Lists

37. 37

38. Lists
• Showcase items in your collection
• Virtual exhibitions – easy and quick
• Teaching resource kits
• Reading lists/fact sheets
• ‘Favourites’
• Virtual press clippings file
• Track research/topics

39. User generated content via Flickr

40. Tagging- useful for display
adverts and images
40

41. User profile
Your settings and history
41

42. View user activity from homepage
Saturday August 21, 10am

43. 10,000 an hour

44. 44
44

45. Hall of Fame – thank you!!!
Total of 20 million lines corrected September 2010

46. Volunteers – 12 ideas
1. Correct newspaper text on topics of interest to your
institution e.g. artists exhibitions
2. Add comments/context to records e.g. could
describe the contents of your artists ephemera files
if records are in Trove, or give more information on
image files - geographic locations, people in
pictures.
3. Create and add images on targeted topics to Trove
via Flickr e.g. street sculpture in Australia

47. Volunteers
4. Digitise your ephemera and add to Trove via Flickr,
then gather into a virtual ephemera file by using
Trove lists.
5. Create virtual press clippings files on artists by
adding digitised newspaper articles to a Trove list.
6. Showcase items in your collection by creating a
Trove list.
7. Easily curate a virtual exhibition using Trove lists.
8. Create teaching resource kits using Trove lists and
add further notes and description to items.

48. Volunteers
9. Transfer reading lists/recommended resources/fact
sheet information into a Trove list for your
institution.
10. Help with internal or collaborative research by
finding items of relevance and tagging them with
an agreed tag or adding to a ‘private’ list.
11. Subject experts in the Trove Forum
12. Tweet/send to institutional Facebook account
interesting resources using Trove ‘send to’ feature.

49. Screencasts – How To…(add yours..)
http://www.youtube.com/user/TroveNLA
49

50. User Forum – you can create groups
50

51. Useful Links
This presentation is on ‘slideshare’
http://www.slideshare.net/RHmarvellous
The notes sheet with useful links is on slideshare
and on Trove ‘about’ page under documents.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/general/marketing
e.g. how to use lists, set up a group in the Trove
forum, guidelines for text correction,
…screencasts.

52. http://trove.nla.gov.au/general/marketing

53. Finding the pieces and
putting them together for
you.
rholley@nla.gov.au
Questions?
rholley@nla.gov.au