Example of Islandora and Omeka usage at University of Toronto Libraries. Use case: Fisher Rare Book Library. Kelli Babcock, Digital Initiatives Librarian - kelli.babcock@utoronto.ca Leslie Barnes, Digital Scholarship Librarian - leslie.barnes@utoronto.ca

1. Islandora and Omeka:
Building U of T Digital Collections & Exhibits
Kelli Babcock, Digital Initiatives Librarian - kelli.babcock@utoronto.ca
Leslie Barnes, Digital Scholarship Librarian - leslie.barnes@utoronto.ca

2. Presentation Overview
1. Overview of digital projects support in ITS - http://its.library.utoronto.ca/
2. Introduction to Islandora
3. Introduction to Omeka
4. Fisher Collections UofT and Omeka
5. Discussion

3. Introduction to Islandora
Why would I use Islandora?
I need to…
● preserve a digital collection (images, data, audio,
video) in an institutional repository
● create a digital collection with permanent identifiers
● create a digital collections to be harvested through
OAI-PMH

4. What is Islandora?
A sandwich
Top layer: Drupal (display)
Middle bits: Islandora (tools)
Bottom layer: Fedora (repository)
http://islandora.ca/islandora-installations

5. Islandora at UofT:
collections.library.utoronto.ca
http://collections.library.utoronto.ca/
Purpose
● search across UofT collections through the Collections UofT
portal (de-silo)
● UofT content collaborators take an active role in creating digital
collections using a user-friendly and customizable front end
● preserves digital content according to best practices defined by
the digital curation community (Fedora Commons object
derivatives automatically generated upon ingest)
● controls access permissions to digital collections
● supports the dissemination of UofT digital collections through
Open Archives Initiative Protocol Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH)
● allows for the analytics of UofT digital collections use
● one-stop tool for digital collection creation!

6. Islandora - Workflow

7. Introduction to Omeka
Why would I use Omeka?
I need to…
● create online exhibits that integrate text and
images, video, or audio
● little to no need to rely on developers: Omeka
has an easy-to-use, intuitive interface
Or: tell us how you might use Omeka?

8. Why Omeka? Exhibit Builder!
Omeka is a Content Management System (CMS): it can store, collect, and
present collections of digital objects
Islandora does all of this too and is a more robust preservation platform…
Omeka’s Exhibit Builder plugin makes it incredibly easy to make context rich,
digital exhibits that integrate images, video, audio, and text

9. Collections UofT and Omeka at the
Thomas Fisher Library
Liz Ridolfo, Digital Projects Librarian - liz.ridolfo@utoronto.ca
John Shoesmith, Outreach Librarian - john.shoesmith@utoronto.ca

10. How is the Fisher library using Collections UofT
and Omeka?
● Our needs for Collections and Omeka:
○ to preserve digital objects with
metadata
○ to showcase multimedia materials
○ to encourage engagement with our
resources
○ to supplement physical exhibitions

11. Collections UofT
● Digital preservation
● sharing and linking Fisher material with the
UofT community
● new use for already digitized material
(internet archive and manuscripts)
● allow students to gather material into mini-exhibitions

12. Collections - Metadata

13. Creating Virtual Exhibitions
● Currently: Virtual exhibitions created by ITS
● Exhibitions well designed, however,
○ time consuming for ITS to create
○ not maintained or supported
○ have to be migrated
● What if we could take it out of the hands of
ITS? Hello Omeka!

14. Museum studies students
This is an example of a student-created Omeka site
that used Fisher materials. In this case:
● students selected the items from a MS
collection chosen by staff
● staff digitized the items
● supplemented with student photography
● students created metadata
● students researched the collection and wrote
the text, arranged the items and decided on
the design

15. Collections and Omeka
Here, an item is added to
Omeka with the Fedora
connector by using its
Collections PID.
It is added to a collection to
later be used in an exhibit.

16. Using available themes in Omeka
This basic example was created
using the existing page layouts and
themes in Omeka.
● It replicates the content of the
Vesalius catalogue/exhibit
● Clicking the item displays
metadata and clicking for the full
size image links back to the item
in collections UofT

17. Modifying available themes in Omeka
● With minor modifications,
Omeka themes can be styled
to look more like the physical
exhibition or asset that they
represent, or to be more
interactive
● Plugins allow the potential to
use interactive tools like
maps, slideshows and
timelines

18. Contact Us!
● Kelli Babcock, Digital Initiatives Librarian - kelli.babcock@utoronto.ca
● Leslie Barnes, Digital Scholarship Librarian - leslie.barnes@utoronto.ca
● Liz Ridolfo, Digital Projects Librarian - liz.ridolfo@utoronto.ca
● John Shoesmith, Outreach Librarian - john.shoesmith@utoronto.ca