Chickens, aprons, markets, and cans. How the National Agricultural Library uses Omeka as its content management system for digital exhibits

Date13 November 2017
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/DLP-03-2017-0009
Pages361-377
Published date13 November 2017
AuthorEmily Marsh
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Records management & preservation,Information repositories
Chickens, aprons, markets,
and cans
How the National Agricultural Library uses
Omeka as its content management system for
digital exhibits
Emily Marsh
National Agricultural Library, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Beltsville, Maryland, USA
Abstract
Purpose This paper describes how the content management system (CMS) Omeka supports the representation
and presentation of the National Agricultural Librarys(NALs) digital exhibits, including some observations on its
strengths and weaknesses. It also looks at Omekas major features through a theoretical lens of exhibit orientation
that provides another way to assess it as a digital content tool.
Design/methodology/approach The case study method was selected to review four comparable
exhibits from the sameinstitution. The Omeka software was evaluated througha lens of exhibit design that
includes two orientations (object vs information) and multiple goals (object identication and display,
engagement,interpretation and education).
Findings Omeka is a valuable tool for digital exhibits because of its strength in knowledge representation
through a standard metadata scheme, the ability to groupitemsthathavesomeaspectincommonsuchasauthoror
topic, and its support of narrative exhibits incorporating text and images. Omeka needs some additional support,
however, to fulll more complex goals such as user engagement, object interpretation and user education.
Originality/value The paper grounds the examination of Omeka within a theoretical framework of
exhibit orientationthat enriches its observations and conclusions.
Keywords Omeka, Digital libraries, Digital humanities, Visualizations,
Content management systems, Exhibits
Paper type Case study
Introduction
No library, regardless of its size, complexion or nancialstatus, can aord to overlookexhibits as a
means of wideningits sphere of inuence and service. Not onlypublic libraries, but also school and
college libraries,special libraries all have an opportunitythrough exhibits to make their readers,
present andpotential, more aware of theirresources and facilities.(Coplan, 1958,p.21)
While the form of exhibits and the ways they are presented have changed dramatically in
the decades since Kate Coplanmade this observation, it is still true that their essentialvalue
as connectors between the library collection and its intended users remains unchanged.
Indeed, Fouracres(2015, p. 378) review of the exhibit literature within library and
information studiesrevealed a focus on community outreachand promotion of collections
or services to new or existingusersas essential goals of library exhibits.
The value of content management systems(CMS) within this context is tied inextricably
with the end goals of library digital exhibits. Edens(2008,p.5)denition of CMS within
libraries describesthe following features:
National
Agricultural
Library uses
Omeka
361
Received 6 March 2017
Revised 6 March 2017
Accepted 10 April 2017
DigitalLibrary Perspectives
Vol.33 No. 4, 2017
pp. 361-377
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2059-5816
DOI 10.1108/DLP-03-2017-0009
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2059-5816.htm
They allow for consistency in branding, look and feel, and the delivery of information; they also
help to centralize input and maintenance of content and services by allowing multiple authors and
creators to manage and edit their content.
The end exhibit goals of object identication, display, interpretation and connection are
fullled with power and efciency through CMS designed specically for GLAM (galleries,
libraries, archives,museums) settings.
The Digital Library Branch of the U.S. Department of Agricultures(USDAs) National
Agricultural Library (NAL) has used Omeka as its CMS to create homes for some of its
government documents that would otherwise have a very limited audience. Four exhibits have
been created thus far as a means of highlighting the librarys general collection and creating
connections to present and future users. The exhibit Frost on Chickenson Robert Froststime
spent as a poultry farmer from 1900 to 1909 includes the USDA reports, Poultry as Food (1903),
Fowls: Care and Feeding (1904) and Methods of Poultry Management at the Maine Agricultural
Experiment Station (1909). None of these reports would have broad appeal without the larger
context given by the exhibits portrayal of Frost four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, chicken farmer
and author of poultry trade journal articles. Likewise, the government reports Convenient
Kitchens (1926), Ensembles for Sunny Days (1930) and Clothes for the Physically Handicapped
Homemaker, With Features Suitable for all Women (1961) take on new meaning and signicance
when seen within the context of the digital exhibit Apron Strings and Kitchen Sinkson the
history of the USDA Bureau of Home Economics. The exhibit on the history of home food
canning, How Did We Can?provides a new way to appreciate the historical USDA reports Pork
on the Farm: Killing, Curing, and Canning (1921), Community Canning Centers (1944) and
Pressure Canners: Use and Care (1953). Finally, the exhibit, Mailboxes, Mom, and Pop Stands,
and Markets: Local Foods Then and Nowexplains the signicance of these USDA reports:
Marketing Butter and Cheese by Parcel Post (1918), Parcel Post Business Methods (1918) and
Suggestions for the Marketing of Cottage Cheese (1919).
This examination uses these exhibits as illustrative examples of the principles behind the best
uses of CMS for GLAM collections. In addition to making observations about Omeka, the
analysis uses a mixed typology of exhibit goals and orientations based on the work of Verharr
and Meeter (1988) and the Smithsonian Institution Ofce and Policy and Analysis (2002).The
typology provides a way to explain the essential features of digital exhibits and to identify the
best ways to make connections between digital objects and users. Omeka will always play a large
role in these observations, as it is the nal conduit between the object and the audience.
The digital exhibit
The term exhibitionrefers to the result of the action of displaying something, as well as the
whole of that which is displayed, and the place where it is displayed. (Desvallées and Mairesse,
2010, pp. 34-35)
There is a rich history of scholarship intothe nature and best practices of physical exhibits,
especially within the context of museums. Various typologies have been developed to
capture differences between the ways objects are presented, narratives are fullled and
visitors are engaged (Bitgood, 1994;Dierking and Falk, 1992;Falk et al.,1985;Ferilli et al.,
2016;Fouracre, 2015,Goulding, 2000;Kim and Lee, 2016;Pekarik et al., 1999;Sitzia, 2016;
van Mensch, 2003). The nature of digital or virtualexhibitions has not been given the
same degree of attention, however with a few notable exceptions (Dallas, 2004;Mulholland
et al.,2016;Skov, 2013;Varvin et al.,2014).
In the present context two typologies stand out as most relevant: the Object and
Information Displaycontinuum of Verhaar and Meeter (1988), and that gleaned from a study
DLP
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