Image Management: OCLC CONTENTdm

Last updated: 06 July 2009
Published in: Managing your digital resources
Tags: delivery | digital collections | software

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Summary

JISC Digital Media has surveyed a range of image management software developers to gather specific information about their systems. These are the responses from OCLC CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management Software.

Please note: The following information has been provided by the system developer/vendor in answer to a detailed survey carried out by JISC Digital Media, but has not been independently verified. It is provided to help you identify systems to evaluate in more detail, but you are advised to check with the system developer/vendor to see if the system has changed or there are later versions available.

There are a wide range of different image management systems available. To help identify those most suitable, we would recommend you also look at our introductory papers on Systems for Managing Digital Media Collections and Choosing a System for Managing your Image Collection.

To compare this system’s features with those of others, please see the full list of systems who have responded to our survey on the Image Management Software page.

Information supplied: July 2009

OCLC CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management Software www.contentdm.com
We asked the system developer to use 50-100 words to sum up and promote their system to a very broad audience: CONTENTdm helps you to make your digital collections available on the Web, more quickly and easily. No matter the format—local history archives, newspapers, books, maps, slide libraries or audio/video—CONTENTdm can handle the storage, management and delivery of your collections to users across the Web.
Current version	5.1
Current version released	May 2009
Next version due (approx)	2010
Main sectors aimed at	Further or Higher (Tertiary) education
Main users aimed at	Picture Library staff; Records Managers; Librarians; Archivists; Museum/Gallery professionals; Educators; Scientific researchers; Humanities or Social Science researchers; Medical professionals
Type of system		Folder viewer/image browser
		Web gallery system
		Image/photo management system
		Digital asset management system (DAM)
		Musem/gallery/library/achive collection management system
		Virtual learning environment (VLE)
		Content management system (CMS)
		Digital repository system
		Digital library system
Open-source/Proprietary?	Proprietary but incorporates open/standard technologies
Complexity	Complex ‘off-the-shelf’ system - will require IT or programming expertise to install and set up.
Maximum size of the catalogue (e.g. number of records or filesize)	Maximum 300 defined collections with up to 16,000,000 items per collection
Handling of images
Image- object- or workflow-centric?	Image-centric seperate record for each image - typical of most image/photo management systems
Adding images to system		Captures images directly from a scanner from within the system
		Captures images directly from a tethered camera from within the system
		‘Drag and drop’ into system
		Scans a computer for new images
		Scans external drives/memory devices for new images
		Scans network servers for new images
		Sets up automatically ‘watched’ folders
		Keeps system and folders in ‘sync’
		Other:    Items can be imported through a desktop application that supports import of single items or batches of items from directories as well as the import of compound objects (multiple items related to each other such as pages in a book). Items can also be added through a web-based interface and via OCLC Connexion client.
File formats supported		RAW formats (Supported via other programs on user’s computer)
		DNG (Supported via other programs on user’s computer)
		TIFF
		JPEG
		GIF
		PNG (Supported via other programs on user’s computer)
		JPEG2000
		PSD (Supported via other programs on user’s computer)
		PDF
		EPS (Supported via other programs on user’s computer)
		Flash (Supported via separate plug-ins)
		SVG
		Audio formats (Supported via separate plug-ins)
		Video formats (Supported via separate plug-ins)
Where can images be located?	Can be anywhere on a local computer or drive
Image management		Ability to manage original image files (e.g. move, copy, rename or delete) from within the system
		Ability to organise images into virtual ‘folders’, ‘galleries’ or ‘categories’ to aid management and retrieval
		Image versioning
		Rating system (e.g. star or numbers for best images)
		Automatic generation of thumbnails and preview images
		Ability to zoom image to 100% (full size) within data entry interface
Image editing provision	Basic editing provided by system
	Edits are made to copies (not to original images)
Specific image editing functions		Resizing
		Rotating
		Cropping
		Sharpening
		Red-eye removal
		Dust/noise removal
		Brightness and contrast adjustments
		Levels adjustments
		Curves adjustments
		Support for ICC colour management
		Creative filters
Other significant editing functions		Flip vertically or horizontally, add watermark, band or brand.
Print templates
Auditing of who did what/when to image
Other image-related features
Handling of metadata
Metadata structure	XML-based system
Customising fields		Add new catalogue fields
		Delete catalogue fields
		Hide catalogue fields from data entry interface
		Re-label catalogue fields
		Re-order catalogue fields
Time saving features		Set up templates or defaults
		Clone or duplicate records
		Automatically catalogue images upon import
		Batch edit metadata
		Global find and replace
Controlled vocabularies		Create drop-down pick-lists
		Support for theasauri (with broader and narrower terms)
Spell-checking/validation		Spell-checking
		Validation of terminology
		Validation of dates and numbers
Support for UNICODE (non-Latin characters)
Importing		Import existing metadata in standard delimited formats
		Import existing metadata in XML formats
Exporting		Export of metadata in standard delimited formats
		Export of metadata in XML formats
Metadata interoperability (e.g. metadata harvesting, cross-searching)		Automatic exposure of metadata as OAI-PMH data
		Support for Z39.50 searching
		Support for search scripts
Embedded metadata support		Read IPTC metadata from within the image file
		Read EXIF metadata from within the image file
		Read XMP data
		Read other metadata from within the image file.
		Write IPTC metadata into image file
		Edit EXIF metadata
		Write XMP data
		Write other metadata
Data-entry interface		Client-based/program-based data entry interface
		Web browser-based data entry interface
Reporting/auditing		Auditing of who did what and when to the metadata
		Editable templates or scripts for generating reports
Other metadata-related features
Delivery to users
Web browser-based end-user interface
Customisability of interface		System manager can customise interface
		End-user can customise their view of interface
Publishing of images		Publish as static gallery to Web
		Publish as dynamic searchable Web catalogue
		Publish to CD-ROM
		Email images from system
Search/browse features		Browse collection by categories
		Search the collection
		Search via thesaurus
		Advanced search features (e.g. Boolean logic, wildcard or ‘sounds like’ searching)
		Content-based image retrieval (CBIR)
Zooming functionality
User interaction		Users can ‘bookmark’ or store images
		Users can annotate bookmarked images
		Users can upload their own images to the system
		Users can create slide shows
Security/Digital Rights Management (DRM)		Access control based on roles or profiles
		Access control based on individual usernames and passwords
		Compatibility with standard educational authentication services (e.g. Athens or Shibboleth)
		Built-in Digital Rights Management technology (e.g. watermarking)
Interoperability/interaction with other systems
Other significant delivery functionality		CONTENTdm supports watermarking, banding and branding. Full text searching is supported and search terms are highlighted within images and PDF files.
Company and support information
Country in which system developers are based	USA
Approximately how many UK users are there?	6
UK office, representative or primary reseller	OCLC (UK) Ltd 7th Floor, Tricorn House 51-53 Hagley Road Birmingham B16 8TP
Independent user-group for this system?		There is an active user community. There are regular user meetings (held annually at national conferences and regionally and users’ institutions) and a user group listserv.
UK-based training available?		UK training is available at Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced user levels. Training sessions can be arranged for groups of up to 12 users. Training is priced at the current OCLC daily rate plus travel and subsistence costs for the trainer. Please contact OCLC to discuss your exact training requirements.
System support		Support for CONTENTdm is provided by the CONTENTdm support staff via e-mail and phone. Support is included in the cost of the CONTENTdm license and the Annual Maintenance fee. If you need assistance, contact CONTENTdm support at support@oclcpica.org, or telephone +44-(0)121-456 46 56/ +44-(0)114-281 6042
Other services available		Customizations and data migration services are available. Costs are dependent on the nature of the project and are provided by custom quote.

Please note: The above information has been provided by the system developer/vendor in answer to a detailed survey carried out by JISC Digital Media, but has not been independently verified. It is provided to help you identify systems to evaluate in more detail, but you are advised to check with the system developer/vendor to see if the system has changed or there are later versions available.

There are a wide range of different image management systems available. To help identify those most suitable, we would recommend you also look at our introductory papers on Systems for Managing Digital Media Collections and Choosing a System for Managing your Image Collection.

To compare this system’s features with those of others, please see the full list of systems who have responded to our survey on the Image Management Software page.

Last updated: 06 July 2009
Published in: Managing your digital resources
Tags: delivery | digital collections | software

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