NLI’s Digital Photo Collection Display
Infrastructure
EVAMinerva 2013
Danny Streifler, Digital Photo Collections Project Manager

What I will talk about today
• The context and variety of digital photo collections
within NLI, including the CJA collection
• NLI’s InfrastructureArchitecture for displaying
Photo Collections:
• Dedicated Minisites
• Browsing Interface and Viewer
• Challenges we face with CJA material
• Near-future development plans

A Few Words About Us
• The National Library of Israel, a 120 year old
institution
• In charge of collecting, preserving, cultivating and
disseminating the cultural heritage of the
Jewish People and the citizens of Israel

Our Collection Focal Points

Variety of Materials

Variety of Photographic Materials
• Complete Photographer Archives (Amateur &
Professional)
• Photo Album Collections (Institutional, Personal)
• Portrait Collections
• Archival Collections (CJA…)

Kinneret, 1933
Jerusalem, c. 1940
Indpendence Day, 1949
Kaiser Wilhelm’s Visit to
Jerusalem, 1898

Levant Fair (Construction), 1934
Bus Passengers, Ramat Gan, 1932
Ein Charod, 1932
Portrait of Sigmund Freud

Synagogue in Lithuania
Synagogue in Greece
Synagogue in Samarkand
Esther Scroll, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Infrastructure for Displaying
Photographic Collections
Minisite
BrowsingDiscovery Interface

Minisite Fundamentals
Making our collections easy to understand and
navigate
• Emphasizing each collections’ uniqueness, Without the
need to read a lot of text
• Enabling Quick grasping of each collection’s scope
• Quick access to collection highlights for the general public
• Full access to the whole collection and advanced search
options straight from the collection homepage
• Emphasis on Usage Rights
• Maintaining a standard user experience across the board
• Bilingual at least, trilingual later on

Browsing Interface Fundamentals
Empowering users to get the results they
need
• “Google like” search, with ranking mechanisms
• Thumbnails show a preview of each image
• Facets allow real-time filtrations of search
results, tailored to each collection’s needs
• Brief and full details available on same page
• Various viewing options (List view, Gallery view)

Current and Future Challenges – CJA
• Adapting to a library oriented system
• Displaying complex objects in a user friendly
manner
• Connecting related materials within and
between collections in a meaningful and
exciting manner
• Manuscripts as an example

Near-Future Development Plans
• New Viewer, allowing better image handling and
concurrent display of full image + metadata
(imminent)
• Improved Gallery Interface
• Geographic component allowing map-based
display and browsing of collections
• Timeline component
• Improved “Museum Gallery” components
• Enhancing and developing our Photo Portal

Questions?

NLI – CJA
Missing Link

Thank you for your attention!
Danny Streifler
Danny.Streifler@nli.org.il