The Brooklyn Visual Heritage website (http://brooklynvisualheritage.org) represents a new visual resource for cultural heritage. The site was created as part of Project CHART (Cultural Heritage, Access, Research and Technology), a three-year collaborative project (2010-2013) funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) between Pratt School of Information and Library Science and three of New York’s leading cultural Institutions, the Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn Museum, and Brooklyn Public Library. This paper examines the Brooklyn Visual Heritage website from the diverse perspectives of these cultural institutions and the communities they serve, from geographic communities to those of scholars, historians, and educators, while also addressing technical aspects of user experience and the challenges of cross institutional collaboration. We consider questions of shared decision-making on website design, public access and use as well as issues regarding how the BVH collections will continue to grow, while expanding the use of social media to promote greater community participation as part of a sustainable model.

1. The Brooklyn Visual Heritage Website
Brooklyn’s Museums and Libraries Collaborate
for Project CHART
Tula Giannini, Dean & Professor
Pratt Institute, School of Information & Library Science
Jonathan Bowen, Professor
Birmingham City University, Computer Science
Museums and the Web 2014
Baltimore, USA, April 5, 2014

2. CHART Symposium
• Brooklyn Historical Society, May 2013
• Videos (Seb Chan/Stephen Bury):
– AM: vimeo.com/77732076
– PM: vimeo.com/77736072
Pratt Institute
Manhattan

3. Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program
The Partners – building relationships
Left - Brooklyn
Public Library
Right – Pratt,
14th St.
Manhattan
Pratt Manhattan Brooklyn Historical Society Brooklyn Museum

4. PRATT’S BROOKLYN PARTNERS AND THE IMLS
Established 1890, Pratt School of Information and
Library Science is oldest U.S. LIS school in the US
Brooklyn Historical Society – founded 1863,
Education programs for c.70,000 public school
students and teachers annually.
Brooklyn Museum, founded 1895 – NYC’s 2nd largest
art collection with c. 1.5 million works.
Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) Central Library opened
1941. BPL is the fifth largest public library system in
the US.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services,
established 1996, provides federal support for U.S.
libraries & museums awarding $233,000,000 per year.

5. Five IMLS partnership grants with Pratt-SILS
Tula Giannini, principal investigator
2004 – 2015 Total – $3.3 million
Start and End
Dates-
Pratt Partners
Project Name and Logo Number of
Students and
Focus
1. 2004 – 2007
IMLS Grant to BPL in
collaboration with
Pratt-SILS
Brooklyn Public Library
(BPL)
Public Urban Library
Service Education
21 students
- Preparing MSLIS
students for
careers in public
urban libraries
- Fulltime urban
librarian training
positions at BPL

6. Start & End
Dates- Pratt
Partners
Project Name
and Logo
Number of Students and
Focus
2. 2005 – 2008
Brooklyn Historical
Society (BHS)
GATEWAI
Graduate
Archives
Training &
Education,
Work and
Information
30 students
• Physical organization
of archival collections
• Creating digital
inventories using EAD
• Develop Archives
Certificate Program
3. 2008 – 2011
Brooklyn Museum
Libraries & Archives
(BM)
30 students
• Cataloging, metadata,
digitization of
museum library &
archives collections –
• Copyright work for
permissions

7. Start & End
Dates- Pratt
Partners - funds
Project Name
and Logo
Number of Students
and Focus
4. 2010 – 2013
BHS, BPL, BM
Project CHART
Cultural Heritage Access
Research & Technology
brooklynvisualheritage.org
18 students
- Cataloging,
metadata, digitization
- Website
development
- Curriculum for
Digital Management
Concentration
5. 2012 – 2015
BM,
Frick Reference
Library, NYARC
(NY Resources
15 students
- Cataloging,
metadata &
digitization of
collections

8. Project CHART Demonstration
http://brooklynvisualheritage.org

9. Project Activities
• Students carry-out 2-semester
Internships with stipends at partner
institutions
• Scholarship for new 18 credit (6
courses) Digital Management for
Cultural Heritage Curriculum
• Funds support conference
attendance, workshops and seminars
Brooklyn Visual Heritage.org
• Project CHART creates BVH
website - a new public digital
resource of historical
photography
Above: Pratt, North Hall, 1973 (BPL)
Below: Coney Island Boardwalk, 1984 (BPL)

10. Project Outcomes and Impact
• Education & Students
• 18 students graduated with
their MSLIS
• 100% of CHART graduates
gained professional positions
• Images continue to be added
Pratt Institute- Lantern slide, 1899 (BM)
• Brooklyn Visual Heritage
Children at Dodger parade, 1949 (BPL)
• Work on social media in
progress
• Digitized over 14,000 historic
photographs of Brooklyn

11. Brooklyn Visual Heritage – A work in Progress
Student project using GIS
Pratt Institute Gateway features BVH images
Photo left: The
first trolley car in
Brooklyn was
run in 1891. The
first trolley car in
Brooklyn was
run in 1891.
BVH page with
metadata

12. A Research Core
Cultural Informatics Lab
http://research.prattsils.org
Classrooms
designed for
a research/
project
pedagogy
Faculty and
Student
Research
Student
Showcase
Practicum/
Internships

13. Digital Convergence & Commonalities
Across Libraries, Archives and Museums
“Increasingly we see the world and ourselves as well in
digital images - our digital self and reflections now seem
real, or more so, as the space between real and digital
blurs in our imagination and in reality.”

14. Why should educational and
cultural institutions collaborate on
digitization projects through
funded partnerships?
• Link the physical and digital worlds
• Opportunities for external funding
• Prepare information professionals for careers
• Foster innovation, creative work, access and use
• Expand online scholarly resources for research
• Increase public awareness, collection connections,
user participation

15. Grant projects create a dynamic learning environment
fund new ideas, directions and development
• Collaboration – Partnerships, funded projects
• Trends over grant period – 2004-present – digital collections
and tools of the information professions
• Grants support commonalities across libraries, archives and
museums
Pratt’s IMLS grants support curriculum development, pedagogy
and research

16. Thank you
giannini@pratt.edu
jonathan.bowen@bcu.ac.uk
www.brooklynvisualheritage.org
mw2014.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/
the-brooklyn-visual-heritage-website/