Ely Wallis (Museum Victoria) - Enriching collections into stories...
Channel: NDF - National Digital Forum
Date: 2016-12-07

Ely Wallis (Museum Victoria)
Full title: Enriching collections into stories: Finding ways to link Museum Victoria's collections online

11:30am - 12:00pm Wednesday 23 November, Main Stage (Soundings)

Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia released a new collections online site in August 2015. The collections of Museum Victoria, comprising natural history, humanities and indigenous cultures share many areas of overlap with similar institutions – such as Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Auckland War Memorial Museum. In some cases, areas of overlap can be explored through content aggregators, such as DigitalNZ or the Atlas of Living Australia. Connections can also be made between Museum Victoria's collections and those in the State Library of Victoria. Other sources can also be used to enrich Museum Victoria's collections online, and can turn a static object into one with a rich story. These include the National Library of Australia's digital newspapers, searchable through Trove. In this paper, our efforts to discover stories about our collections, through rich linking to other collections and sources are described. A deadly taipan will again come alive, and the fate of a hotly contested meteorite specimen will be shown. Join in the trail of discovery.

Elycia is the Manager of Online Collections at Museum Victoria. In this role, she is responsible for publishing information about the collections into apps, exhibitions and websites – whether these are run by our museum or elsewhere. Originally trained as a scientist, she has a PhD in Zoology and a Masters in Knowledge Management. She is also the Project Lead for the Biodiversity Heritage Library in Australia, a project that provides many more opportunities for linking things up.