2009 Conference Archive

PRESENTATION C7

DOMS: WHAT DOES A DIGITAL OBJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MEAN TO THE STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA

Wendy Quihampton & Anne Beaumont
State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC

Aims:

In late 2006 the State Library of Victoria commenced a Digital Object Management System (DOMS) project, in alignment with the strategic directions of National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA), and in clear recognition of the current legislative requirements of Victoria's documentary heritage.

Methods:

Implementation of the DOMS test environment commenced in March 2008, with the production environment scheduled to commence in July 2008. With over 290,000 existing master images and associated metadata to migrate, and current digitising producing 15,000 new images per month, the DOMS project is a staged implementation, beginning with the digitised holdings of Victoria's unique materials currently referenced through the Library's library management system (Voyager).

Results:

This paper will focus on outlining the decision-making processes that will shape the DOMS. All factors of the existing structure that supports the State Library's digital collections need to be reconsidered, from the number and formats of files to be stored within the DOMS, to the mechanisms of bulk ingest and the incorporation of new metadata standards, including METS.

Conclusion:

With the State Library of Victoria positioned to be the first DigiTool customer to use Voyager as the public interface to DigiTool and the first Australian site to manage a mass migration of over 250,000 digital objects into DigiTool, the State Library of Victoria will be the largest DigiTool repository in Australia. The implementation of the State Library of Victoria's Digital Object Management System will pioneer innovative use of the DigiTool software and present other institutions with a model to emulate.