Fisher Fine Arts Library Image Collection

http://imagesvr.library.upenn.edu/f/fisher/

This is the image collection at the fine arts library at U. Penn. I was very excited to find this collection because it seemed so thorough and easy to use. The site isn't fancy, but allows a few different methods of searching, browsing by creator, and comparisons (where you can search for 2 images to be displayed side by side). They have all their holdings listed online (150,000 records) and 50,000 of them are digitized. However, disappointingly, access to the site is limited to UPenn students and faculty. The public can view the holdings and thumbnails, but cannot enlarge images for a closer look.

Selections
They have digitized 1/3 of their collection, which is still pretty substantial. I could not determine how they chose what to digitize or if this is perhaps an ongoing project with the aim to digitize all their holdings.

Metadata
As the image collection is part of the larger library system, they have catalogued the images with enhanced MARC records. The information about each object was pretty thorough. With a little more searching I was able to find a page on the tools and technology with an annotated list of the formats, software, and protocols used for their online digital projects.

Object Characteristics
Because of the restricted access, I couldn't look at the images beyond the thumbnails that appeared on the search results lists. But, it seems each image is available in 5 sizes, from thumbnail through extra large. One extra-large image is, for example, 1663 x 2358 pixels. I'm not sure of the file format.

Audience
Since the catalog is available publicly online, the audience seems at first to be the general public and anyone wishing to do scholarly research. However, this online catalog seems like a tease because you can't access the images without permission. So, really the collection is only for research for Penn affiliates--but with the variety of image sizes and the detailed metadata, they can do some in-depth research.