Expanding access to increase engagement: University of Delaware's AM Quartex journey
In part four of this guest blog series, Theresa Hessey, Digital Collections Librarian at the University of Delaware, discusses how AM Quartex has streamlined and improved the accessibility of their digital collections. Co-written with Jan Gardner Broske, Collections Manager and Curator.
The University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press presents six distinct digital collections that represent the selections of materials held within our Museums. While our Museums collections have had a digital presence for over 15 years, migrating these collections to AM Quartex in January 2024 marked the first time that Museums materials were presented in a unique digital environment with a single URL.
Wavellite, Museums Minerals Collection, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press, Newark, Delaware.
While the Museums digital collections represent a small portion of the materials housed across three distinct museums, providing digital access to researchers and increasing the discoverability of the treasures housed at the University of Delaware Museums is a significant priority for the organisation. Since moving to Quartex, we have made a substantial addition to our Minerals collection in addition to enhancing our metadata. This migration has allowed us to engage with researchers worldwide who have provided feedback and additional information for some of our unattributed artworks.
Les Bêcheurs (The Diggers), Museums Art Collection, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press, Newark, Delaware.
Data provided from Google Analytics allows us to identify areas for improvement. Since going live 11 months ago, we have seen an increase in traffic to our Museums collections that exceeds our data from 2023 (the last full year for which we have such data), particularly to our Minerals collection. As we continue to promote our migration to Quartex, make additions to our collection, and explore other aspects of Quartex’s functionality, we anticipate an increase in usage.
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