News: Wolfsonian-FIU revamps website, launches digital images catalog

The news release below is from FIU-News and features a quote from Derek Merleaux (a great colleague at FIU), SobekCM (the software we all use and love), the Wolfsonian-FIU’s gorgeous new site and digital image catalog, and the value and impact of the support from FIU’s Technology fees for this important work; congratulations to Derek for his awesome work on this!

The Wolfsonian-FIU has a new, sleeker online look.
The museum recently gave its website a makeover that makes it easier for visitors to navigate and find what’s going on at its Miami Beach location. There’s a dedicated, streamlined page that’s all about current, past and future exhibitions. Website visitors can also find information on Lyon Frères & Compagnie, the Wolfsonian-FIU’s new café and wine bar, and an easy-to-browse online shop.
In an effort to expand its reach, the museum also has launched a digital images catalog that provides online access to a significant and continually growing portion of the Wolfsonian-FIU collection. Currently live in a beta version, the catalog provides visitors, who sign up for browsing, access to digital images and corresponding records that are searchable and can be saved, tagged, shared and personalized.
“The major change here for the public is the accessibility,” says Derek Merleaux, the museum’s digital asset manager. “The Wolfsonian-FIU has been creating images of the collection for a long time, but they were not easily accessible to scholars or the general public. Now, people can access a large portion of the collection with ease.”
The new digital access management system (DAMS) uses SobekCM, an open source software created by the University of Florida Digital Collections. Work on the DAMS and digital images catalog received generous support from FIU’s technology fees.