The AMICO Library is a digital library of art images and related resources contributed by 39 member art museums. It is delivered through five specialized distributors to colleges, universities, K-12 schools, and public libraries. The document discusses how AMICO works, what content is included in the library, its subscribers, and differences between the distributor interfaces. It concludes that more research is needed to understand users' needs for digital libraries across different audiences.

1. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
Addressing Multiple Audiences with Multiple
Interfaces to The AMICO Library™
Scott Sayre - Director of Member Services
Kris Wetterlund- Director of User Services

2. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
• Independent, non-profit consortium
of institutions with collections of art
• Mission: enable educational use of
museum multimedia
What is AMICO?

3. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
39 AMICO Member Museums contribute digitized works of art,
multimedia, and related information on an annual basis.
How does it work?
Member
Museums
The
AMICO
Library

4. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
How does it work?
Member
Museums
The
AMICO
Library
AMICO builds an integrated Library and delivers it to five specialized
distributors.
Distributors

5. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
How does it work?
Member
Museums
The
AMICO
Library
AMICO and the distributors license The AMICO Library™ to
colleges, universities, K-12 schools and public libraries.
Distributors Subscribers

6. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
How does it work?
Member
Museums
The
AMICO
Library
Subscribers to The AMICO Library™ deliver it to over 3 million users
world-wide.
Distributors Subscribers End Users

7. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
What’s In It?
Cultures and time periods represented
range from ancient Greek, Roman, and
Egyptian to contemporary art from
around the world; from Native American
art to African art to Japanese and
Chinese works.
The 2002 AMICO Library™ includes:
• Over 13,000 paintings
• Over 5,900 sculptures
• Over 13,700 drawings and watercolors
• Over 23,800 prints
• Over 29,000 photographs
• Over 9,800 works of decorative art

8. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
University Subscribers
Over 250 subscribing institutions worldwide.
AMICO currently has subscribers in Australia, Canada, China, Israel,
Lebanon, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Subscribing universities serve about 2 million students.
K-12 Subscribers
Over 70 K-12 subscribers in North America.
Subscribing schools currently serve almost 30,000 students annually.
Public Libraries
AMICO Subscribers:

9. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
•Six different Distributors providing exposure to a
broad range of users
•Wide range of interfaces influenced by other
integrated products and the distributor’s
perceptions of the needs of users
AMICO’s Distribution Model

10. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
AMICO Distributors:
Cartography Associates

11. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
AMICO Distributors:
H.W. Wilson

12. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
AMICO Distributors:
OhioLINK

13. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
AMICO Distributors:
RLG Inc. (Research Libraries Group)

14. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
AMICO Distributors:
University of Michigan

15. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
AMICO Distributors:
VTLS

16. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
What are the differences?

17. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
Features and Functions
Overview
Distributor Features
Cartography Assoc.
(browser ver.) H.W. Wilson OhioLINK RLG Inc.
University of
Michigan VTLS
Simple search – • – • – –
Browse • • • – • •
Thesaurus – • – – – –
Advanced search • • • • • •
Unlimited Boolean • • • – • –
Keyword • – • • – –
Any field – • – – • •
Authority lists • • – – – –
Cat. Fields to query 16 32 7 10 18 5
Cat. Fields displayed 30+ 20+ 35+ 15+ 25+ 10+
Sort results – • • • • –
Graphic tools • – – – • •
Search history – • – • – •
Query links – • • • – •
Export text files – • – – – •
Order Tiff files – – – • – –
Integrated resources • • • – • –
Personal Grouping • – – • • •
Local – – – – – •
Networked • – – • • –
Sharable • – – – • –

18. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
Sample terms:
• birth
• German landscape
• haystack
• oil portrait child
• black and white
• French still life
• surreal
Consistency of Search Results

19. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
Simple Search Returns
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
birth german
landscape
haystack oil portrait
child
black and whitefrench still life surreal
Search term(s)
Number of returns
H.W.Wilson Ohiolink RLG University of MichiganVTLS
Simple
Search

20. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
Advanced Search Returns
0
50
100
150
200
birth german
landscape
haystack oil portrait child black and white french still life surreal
Search term(s)
Number of returns
H.W.Wilson Ohiolink RLG University of Michigan VTLS
Advanced
Search

21. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
Alignment with User’s needs:
• Most digital library user research has been
conducted in higher education
- MESL - UC Berkeley - Penn State
• Primary focus of research has been in the
on the transition from slides to digital images
• Very little is known in regards to digital
library applications in the K-12 classroom or
the public library environment

22. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
Adapting to Innovation:
The amount of experience users have with a
resource can affect their ability to identify
what they need from the resource

23. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
Conclusions
• More research is needed to determine the needs of
specific audiences in accessing and using digital
libraries of cultural heritage information
• AMICO’s multi-distributor model now offers an
unique environment for investigating relationships
between multiple interfaces and the needs of specific
audiences
• AMICO will begin to seek partners and funding to
conduct ongoing research in this area, sharing
findings with the entire museum community

24. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO

25. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
AMICO Public Website
includes:
• General Information
• Content Profile
• Thumbnail catalog
• Links to Members
• Links to Distributors
• Links to Subscribers
• Rights Request Form

26. Museums and the Web 2003
Art Museum Image Consortium
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund, March 20, 2003
AMICO
www.amico.org
Scott Sayre - scott@amico.org
Kris Wetterlund - kris@amico.org