Technical University Wildau

easydb.digitalasset at the Wildau University of Applied Sciences

Summary

The university in Wildau has chosen easydb to manage its extensive image and media inventory since summer 2022. By using easydb , the university was able to achieve its initial goals:

• Centralization of image drawing
• Research and usability of image material in the entire inventory
• Creation of legal certainty for image material
• Facilitate the capture of images from external sources
• Long-term preservation of images
• Access for employees, internal use, public relations

CDS Gromke e.K. is the integration-oriented partner who ensures the conceptual design and implementation of this project as well as further support.

Documentary approach and backup

The university uses easydb to ensure continuous documentation of its image and media holdings. The quality and legal situation of the material is always checked during the review process. The material is then imported, recorded and made available to all users via the web-based front end. The focus here is on the following points:

• Indexing of image material (assessment, recording according to indexing standards, cassation)
• Preservation and provision of the analog stock according to minimum archival standards
• Clarification of copyrights and rights of use
• Instance for receiving offered archival materials from employees/SGs of the university.
• Organization of data for long-term archiving

In the first phases of the project, the primary target group will be the employees of the University Communications, University Library and News & Media departments.

Standards and operation

The introduction of metadata standards is an important basis for easy data exchange and ultimately also ensures an exit strategy. Thus, not only the storage in IPTC and XMP is used, but the acquisition is also based on the use of the GND (Common Standard Data of the German National Library) directly in the easydb via the existing integration in this thesaurus data. Part of the concept was from the beginning of the operation on a server of the library network KOBV, so as to always have control over access, the operation itself and the data.

The staff of the TH Wildau will first develop the existing stock of about 81,000 images with a total size of almost 2.7 TB. This stock consists of images of events, campus buildings, industrial operations, and licensed images.

Outlook

Already in the first step of the project, the data model prepared the basis for the later connection to the interactive map of the campus. Later connections of the CMS are also being planned.

Photo above title: Synovali, Th-wildau-campus-127, cropped, CC BY-SA 4.0