Success story
Minneapolis Institute of ArtIndustry• Non-ProfitSolutions• OpenText™ MediaBin

Minneapolis Institute of Art
secures its collection withDigital Asset Management

One of the largest museums in the U.S. manages, sharesimmense collection of media assets with OpenText™ MediaBin;
enhances mission to ‘inspire wonder’
Results
Immediate, self-serve
connection to high quality
images, video
Integrated, automated media
detail and rights management
Enhanced collaboration
supporting museum efforts toeducate, engage“We’ve developed workflows and tasks to make it easy forpeople to upload content… Then, we can collaborate better.”Daniel Dennehy

Senior Photographer and Head of Visual Resources
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Minneapolis Institute of Art secures its collection with Digital Asset Management

Capturing a van Gogh masterpiece, recording details of a
5,000-year-old artifact—all in a day’s work for Daniel Dennehy whoserves as the Senior Photographer and Head of Visual Resourcesat the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia). Images, videos and othermedia featuring Mia’s collection supports its mission to inspire
wonder through the power of art. “We’re a very visual organization,”
Dennehy notes. “I like to say that every idea at the museum has acorresponding picture, or several.”A single source of truth for digital assets

To choose a solution for handling Mia’s media collection, Dennehy
and his team conducted a six-month needs analysis and distributed
a request for proposal. Following several demonstrations, the teamselected the OpenText Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution available
on-premises and in the cloud.

Prints, paper and requests

Designed to ease and engage processes for storing, managing, anddistributing media assets, the DAM serves as Mia’s central library.
“We felt the solution was feature rich,” explained Dennehy, pointing
to a deployment agent for scheduling delivery of assets and a dynamic
conversion engine, streamlining creation of file derivatives. The DAM
stores its high-resolution core assets, allowing Mia employees todownload renditions optimized for use in email, slide presentations, orother applications as needed.

Previously, accessing files could be a job in itself. Mia transitioned
from printed material to digital files in 2003. Upon scanning film ofits collection, the museum generated a digital library of approximately
40,000 assets. When Mia professionals needed an image, they would
contact Dennehy’s team with the request. “This was going to be a lotof wear and tear on our staff,” Dennehy recalled. Furthermore, relying
on paper-based methods to track rights management for content on
loaned pieces resulted in delays and duplicates. “I realized we needed
to manage this in a more efficient way,” he added.

Close to 100 Mia employees use the software on a regular basis to viewand share assets. “It’s where you go if you want a representation of anartwork,” Dennehy said. Whereas downloading images from Mia’s website
is time-consuming and limited, its DAM acts as a single source of truth forusers through version control and governance. “If you want the definitive
copy and you want to be sure that you have a good understanding of
how you can use it, you go to the DAM,” said Dennehy.

The ‘ideas’ are many and diverse: Mia collects, preserves and displays
fine art from the world’s cultures, spanning millennia; its permanentcollection features close to 90,000 objects. As one of the largest art
museums in the United States, Mia welcomes more than a half-million
visitors each year.
Dennehy and his team of five media makers produce quality assets
for use by various groups at Mia. Curators share images with scholars
around the world and education professionals create programs for thelocal community while other employees use photos for cataloging or
marketing purposes.

Mia now stores and manages close to 250,000 assets in its DAM,
adding an average of 15,000 objects per year. The library consists
primarily of still photography along with PDF material, audio content
and a burgeoning assortment of video to meet demand, according toDennehy. “We’re creating more video content and putting that in theDAM,” he noted. “We’re also getting into more 3D and computational
imaging. It’s an exciting time to be in cultural heritage imaging.”“If you want the definitive
copy and you want to be
sure that you have a goodunderstanding of how
you can use it, you go tothe DAM.”
Daniel Dennehy

Senior Photographer andHead of Visual Resources
Minneapolis Institute of ArtMinneapolis Institute of Art secures its collection with Digital Asset Management

Discovery and integration
Within their DAM, Mia professionals create custom metadata fields,including sections related to rights management. The solution offers
automated tagging as well as powerful search features that simplify
resource discovery even without exact keywords or folder structureknowledge. For instance, Mia professionals access information incatalogs through text-searchable PDFs.
Data sharing between the DAM and The Museum System (TMS), Mia’s
collection management software, enables users to gather even granulardetails with ease. “There’s an API that basically trades data back andforth between the DAM and TMS that we use to track any work of art
that comes into the building,” said Dennehy.
Workflow and accessibility
Mia is developing its DAM as a collaborative environment throughautomated processing. For example, a studio workflow is set in motion
when media makers photograph objects in the studio, attach critical
metadata and upload the content to the DAM. Then, the files pull datafrom the collection management system so users can search artist
names, period, materials, or other characteristics to find the images.
The museum is harmonizing submission and sharing of content among
eight curatorial areas, as well as within the public relations and marketing
departments. A workflow enables curatorial assistants to add content
as it arrives at the museum. “We do a lot of exhibitions and there’s
a lot of rights management. We need to be careful about how
long we can use it,” Dennehy said. “When the curatorial assistants
upload the content, everybody knows what’s available. Then, we cancollaborate better.”Word is spreading: even the facilities management department adds
blueprints and the security office uploads badge photos to the DAM.

Efficient, engaged collaboration

Whether researching or designing a social media campaign for themuseum, Mia employees now gather vital resources quickly andsecurely through their DAM. They do so directly, without calling on themedia team for assistance. “For existing content, users don’t needto contact us; they can get what they need through the Digital AssetManagement solution,” Dennehy said. “They can even choose avariety of derivative sizes, forms and color spaces.”
Accessible, reliable connection to work product ensures media makers,
designers, researchers and others always work with the latest version ofan asset. Integration with the collection management system empowers
them with information, especially valuable to the museum as it attracts
next generation workers. “As new, younger staff members come on,
there’s an expectation that we have systems they can engage withto do their jobs better,” Dennehy explained. “They have high expectations about being able to get their hands on content quickly.”
Brand management
Their DAM also sustains efforts to drive brand awareness for Mia, aprioritized focus since 2015 when the museum turned 100 years oldand refreshed its name and branding. “The rebranding was part ofour celebration,” Dennehy noted. “People who are supporting ourexhibitions and programs have their own branding. We’ve got toget it right.”“As new, younger staff
members come on,
there’s an expectationthat we have systems
they can engage with todo their jobs better.”Daniel Dennehy

Senior Photographer andHead of Visual Resources
Minneapolis Institute of Art

Minneapolis Institute of Art secures its collection with Digital Asset Management

Interactive web presence

Return on investment

For even the casual observer, a visit to www.artsmia.org often turns intoa virtual journey through places and eras brought to life in art. High quality
images meticulously captured and annotated by Dennehy and his teamencourage visitors to explore—all supported by their DAM, now and as
the museum’s web presence evolves. “We’re transitioning from a wall
didactic to an interactive, deeper dive that you can get on a mobiledevice,” said Dennehy. “You can just serve up so much more content.”

While increased productivity and accuracy carry a cost benefit, Mia
tracks return in other terms. “As a non-profit organization, especially amuseum, we don’t measure ROI in dollars and cents,” Dennehy noted.
“In many ways, having asset management with our DAM protects theinvestment we make in creating this content.”
Overall, Dennehy notes, digital asset management is of value to Mia
because it furthers the museum’s mission to inspire wonder. “It’s reallyabout our impact on the community,” he said, noting: “I love what I do.
I love art… what I really love is walking into this building that’s filledwith fabulous treasures—all the best that humankind is capable ofproducing—and sharing it with others.”

About OpenText

OpenText, The Information Company,
enables organizations to gain insight
through market leading information
management solutions, on-premises orin the cloud. For more information aboutOpenText (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTEX)
visit opentext.com.
Customer stories

opentext.com/contact
Twitter | LinkedIn

Copyright ©2018 Open Text. OpenText is a trademark or registered trademark ofOpen Text. The list of trademarks is not exhaustive of other trademarks. Registeredtrademarks, product names, company names, brands and service names mentioned
herein are property of Open Text. All rights reserved. For more information, visit:
http://www.opentext.com/2/global/site-copyright.html 09092C.10EN