The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Center

The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Center in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, UK, has a very promising Web site, quirky and colorful as befits its subject. Dahl's archive is the center of the museum, which is a public charity. Overall the Center appeals both to serious researchers, who can examine the archives before visiting, and the online casual visitor. However, these functions are largely separate ones, due mostly to the lack of digitized objects from the archives.

collection principles
The collection is very cohesive, and contains a wide variety of Dahl-related items. The site also includes several well laid-out pages explaining intellectual property as applies to researchers, professional and scholarly. The museum is connected to both the Roald Dahl Foundation and Literary Estate, as well as being registered as a charity, so continued funding should not be a problem.

object characteristics
The description of the Collections Database leads the user to believe that many of the images are available through the Web site: however, in repeated searches I was unable to find any at all. The search function appeared to work well but only calls up the (EAD?) record, and there is no way to search for images only. It is unclear whether this is due to lack of funds or concerns about intellectual property, although the available images are said to be watermarked. Perhaps this adds significant costs to the digitization process?

The "Explore the Writing Hut" feature does include interactive images (through Macromedia Flash) and information described Dahl's relationship to the objects. Close-ups and brief descriptions appear when the images are scrolled over, but there is no data as to the authenticity of the images, or theire arrangement, or when the photos were taken.

metadata
The records contain nothing but metadata, which is quite extensive and intended for retrieval of records from the archives. The Writing Hut images did not appear to include any visible metadata.

intended audience
While the site would most likely be useful for those planning to visit the archives, and the collection guides and user information are well done, the promise of the online exhibit is largely an empty one. However, the few features that are available for the interested amateur, such as the Writing Hut and the drafts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, are imaginative and contain much promise of innovative features to come.