VADS has made significant collections development this year, seen at the ‘front-end’ through 10 new collections being delivered directly on-line.  Additionally, a further 8 major collections are in accession, (see collections document).  VADS engagement in the community has increased, particularly in the area of data creator support through involvement with AHRB schemes and JISC 5/99 ‘image cluster’ visual arts projects.  This reflects VADS focus on supporting projects throughout the data cycle – from conception to preservation. New systems architecture, including on-line catalogue and delivery systems have been implemented to facilitate collections growth.

Collections development and VADS community-support has undoubtedly raised the service’s profile, as too has a visual arts-focused re-branding of VADS electronic and print media.  This combined with a concerted publicity effort in the latter half of the year has seen a 50% increase in access statistics to VADS site.

The year has also seen VADS ‘Creating…Guide print published and the ‘Using…Guide’ drafted on the web.  Strategic collaborations continue with a Memorandum of Understanding established with Axis, The National Contemporary Artists Database and further involvement within the developing DNER.

i)          Collections Development

q       A notable period of collections development for VADS with the direct on-line delivery of visual arts collections from the JISC Image Digitisation Initiative (JIDI) and a future rolling program of accessions of VADS-supported collections, secured for beyond 2000-1.  VADS is also delivering ‘pilot’ collections of digitally documented degree show materials, (see attached collections document).

q       10 new collections in total delivered and promoted for reuse on-line, including 6 image database collections from the JISC Image Digitisation Initiative, (JIDI), providing access to an additional 10000 integrated visual arts image records, via VADS catalogue.

q       6 JISC funded

q       4 other academic

Collections by AHDS subject areas

ii)         Collections Management and Preservation

VADS has prepared 8 of the JIDI collections for delivery/preservation by mapping item level metadata into VADS’ Visual Resource Association Core 3.0 based structure and maintaining copies of archival quality images.

q       10 collections prepared for use/preservation, including c10000 item level image records

q       10 collection level metadata records created plus online documentation in HTML and standards-enhanced metadata records of c10000 digital images.

iii)        Resource Delivery

Following user needs analyses in VADS’ initial phases, VADS has this year implemented its community endorsed delivery policy of providing discreet digital objects directly on-line via user friendly systems, (see also above). To enable this, VADS specified and commissioned new systems architecture and support.  Bath University Computing Services and System Simulation Ltd provide these.

VADS delivery systems allow for cross-searching at item level of database driven collections while also maintaining collection-level identities and interfaces. This catalogue development has coincided with the continued development of VADS website, which now follows a unified VADS corporate identity, reflective of the visual arts community.

VADS has augmented its discovery/delivery system by also commissioning the development of a client image-database for future use by depositors who are ‘partnered’ with VADS through their data-creation phase.  This will provide a standards-compliant image metadata creation tool, directly exportable to VADS delivery systems and is currently at the prototype stage.

iv)        Advice and Guidance

VADS has undertaken advice and guidance through workshops, outreach-support, publications and enquiry answering, in particularly to AHRB applicants/grant holders and the visual arts projects under the JISC DNER Image Cluster program. VADS advice and guidance covers all issues of digital resource creation and management, with particular emphasis on subject-specific rights management, metadata creation and on-line-delivery issues.

Digital Image Metadata, (with Technical Advisory Service for Images), to JISC DNER ‘Image Cluster’ program, 23/04/01

Support to data creation projects:

VADS provided steering committee and direct advice, to 12 data creation projects, due for deposit, including AHRB, JISC and RSLP Grant Holders.  (see attached collections document).  Additionally, VADS provided steering Committee support to Arts Council’s Culturally Diverse Archives initiative and advice to Imperial War Museum Spanish Civil War Posters initiative.

Guides to Good Practice

Creating and Using Virtual Reality: A Guide to the Arts and Humanities,as of March 2001, ADS became co-ordinators for completion of the guide.

Enquiries and assistance:

AHRB applicant enquiries

Creative and Performing Arts Fellowship, Aug 2000 - 4

Research Grants, Nov 2000 - 32

Resource Enhancement, May 2001 - 23

Innovation Scheme, Aug 2001 - 15

Initial AHRB applicant enquiries are responded to ASAP and are usually followed up by subsequent email / telephone discussions.  In some cases, reviews of drafts and consultation visits occur.

Arts and Humanities Research Board Technical Assessment

Resource Enhancement, 2000 - 38

Creative and Performing Arts Fellowship, Aug 2000 - 5

Research Grants, Nov 2000 - 39

Resource Enhancement, May 2001 - 28

Innovation Scheme, Aug 2001 – 18

VADS serves on steering committees for 3 AHRB funded projects see attached collections document.

Other enquiries / assistance.

VADS receives on average approximately 4-5 enquiries per day.

v)         Promotion and Publicity

VADS promotional and publicity activities made significant progress this year.  A visual arts orientated brand-identity was established unifying VADS electronic and print media and a printed ‘Information pack’ has been developed which contains leaflets for the service, collections and advice.  The pack was direct-mailed to key groups. VADS also established and implemented a coherent press release strategy from January 2001. The effects of these efforts were noted in an almost 50% increase in web-hits from May onwards.

Papers presented / published:

Transplanting DIAD: The re-engineering of a multimedia database, Digital Resources in the Humanities, SOAS, 09/07/01

Working in Tandem with VADS: Cultivate Issue 4 May 2001

Application of VADS collections into Further Education, AHDS / BECTA, 09/05/01

Archiving Visual Arts Digital Resources: MA Computer Applications in the History of Art, Birkbeck College, 30/04/01

Image Collections for Learning and Teaching in the Visual Arts, to 'Progressing through IT' session at Computers in Art and Design Education, Glasgow School of Art, 11/04/01

Delivering JISC Image Digitisation Initiative Collections, to Malibu (Digital Hybrid Libraries) event, British Library, London, 27/03/01

The Creation of Online Learning and Teaching Resources, to Good Practice Symposium, Surrey Institute of Art and Design, University College, 07/03/01

COBWEB, Creative Industries Virtual Consortium, City University, 28/02/01

Archiving UK H/FE Visual Arts Digital Resources, to EU VEKTOR project, John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, 10/02/01

VADS: Services and Systems – to invitees of Surrey Library and Information Group, 18/10/00

PICTIVA – Image Collections for Learning and Teaching in the Visual Arts, to ‘Computers and the History of Art’, Courtauld Institute, 01/09/00

Archiving of Imperial War Museum Concise Art Collection, to Clicks and Mortar: building Cultural Spaces for the 21st Century, Museum Documentation Association, 04/09/00

Delivery of Visual Arts Image Content into DNER, as part of JISC Distributed Image Service launch, to ‘Digital Resources for the Humanities’, University of Sheffield, 10/09/00

PICTIVA – Image Collections for Learning and Teaching in the Visual Arts, to Digital Resources for the Humanities, University of Sheffield, 11/09/00

Promotional articles have appeared in AHDS, ADC-LTSN and Axis newsletters.

vi)        Strategic Relationships

VADS acts collaboratively to maximise the value of the services it offers and also to build bridges and partnerships to benefit the academic visual arts communities. Late in 2000, VADS established a Memorandum of Understanding with Axis, the Arts Councils funded, National Contemporary Artists Database, covering co-operation in collections development and outreach and including provision for deposit with VADS of Axis archive materials.

VADS continued to implement its already established strategic relations with other relevant services within and without the academic sector, particularly those within the auspices of JISC Distributed Image Service, (such as HEDS, TASI).  This positioning also led to increased involvement with JISC 5/99 Image Cluster projects, for which VADS is now the named DNER delivery agency.

VADS has also this year furthered its relationship with the Visual Resources Association, (international standards body for works of visual culture), and is to present to their annual conference next year and discuss the development of VRA based data tools, (XML DTDs etc).

VADS also became an approved site of the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) reflecting the wide applicability of VADS content.

vii)       Projects (R & D)

PICTIVA: 'Promoting the use of On-line Image Collections in Learning and Teaching in the Visual Arts', March 2000-2002, (with The Institute for Image Data Research, UNN), funded to enhance JISC Activities for Learning and Teaching. The project has through this year, established: admin systems, user feedback tools, user interviews, specifications for and commission of learning and teaching materials, specifications for and commissions of image-collection on-line retrieval tools.

The findings of the project will inform VADS services overall re user needs and the generic tools produced will increase functionality to VADS delivery systems. Tools for both data management and user-needs are being developed.  The former will permit VADS to readily expand contextual content to the digital items it holds, e.g. presenting scholarly analysis of works of visual art.  The latter will enable all range of VADS-users to trial new search methodologies, (content-based image retrieval), and benefit from the on-line selection and contextualisation of items prior to use, i.e. make ‘personalised’ annotated sets of items.

 In the last months of the year, VADS, successfully responded to a JISC approach for the above project.  Details in following report.

AHDS Visual Arts is part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS). Copyright 2003.