University of Heidelberg
HeidICON
easydb.university at the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg
"After careful consideration and comparison, easydb was also rated as the most suitable in the university library, and its implementation was decided upon."
Dr. Maria Effinger and Dr. Thomas Wolf
Summary
Key facts
- in use since 2005
- Users: approx. 10,000
- Images: 230,000 (as of mid-2012)
- Faculties: Nine
- 30% of the collection is publicly available online, guest access: heidicon.ub.uni-heidelberg.de
Institutes and departments
- University Library
- medicine
- Communication and Marketing
- East Asian Studies
- archeology
- Egyptology
- East Asian Studies
- art history
- Other Collaborative Research Centers
Modules and functions
- Creator
- Presentations
- XML & CSV exporter
- Multimedia & Office data
- WSDL interface
- Shibboleth
- LDAP
Initial situation
Heidelberg University is one of the oldest and most renowned universities in the world and, with 30,000 students, twelve faculties, and three clusters of excellence, is a leader in almost all areas of teaching and research.
The impetus came from the art history department: a digital slide library was to be introduced, while avoiding isolated solutions. All relevant institutes participated in the evaluation. Since the requirements of archaeology, Egyptology, and medicine vary greatly, a flexible data model and frontend were the decisive selection criteria.
HeidICON with easydb.university
In addition to flexibility, the authority data, a consistent vocabulary for image indexing, rights management, and the creation of user groups were particularly decisive factors in the decision-making process. The choice fell on easydb.university. Since 2005, it has been continuously expanded: a wide variety of faculties and departments now manage more than 225,000 items of content (as of September 2012). The University Library, which also hosts easydb , is the lead provider.
Rightsmanagement allows you to precisely define which users have access to which content. This allows you to create image folders for use in seminars, create user groups, or securely manage sensitive research results in easydb .
Screenshot: Search result and detailed view
- Login as guest
- Search for "Großsachsenstein" in the "Church Fortresses" pool
- Marking and hit selection in the Search result
- Easy download via button in the detail view
Advantages
- A solution for all faculties
- High flexibility in the data model and interface
- Easy access for all students through LDAP connection
- Multilingual frontend: German and English
- UTF-8 for Japanese, Chinese and Arabic characters
Case study as PDF
Making curated knowledge accessible for generations
For 15 years, we have been an innovative pioneer in the field of web-based media repositories easydb fylr , the successor to easydb 5, customers rely on our experience and expertise in over 200 installations. Due to its scientifically oriented and customized approach, the system is particularly well-established in educational and research institutions and has become indispensable in over 50 press offices.
Our team of experts is available to answer your individual questions.
