New Zealand Museum Picture Library

These observations relate to the Te Papa Picture Library at the Museum of New Zealand.
http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/images/images.asp?Language=English

Selection procedure: According to the website, a small proportion of the over 800,000 pictures in the Te Papa Picture library were selected for digitization. They are from the following categories: flora and fauna, land and sea, pasifika, people and places. taonga, and treasures. I chose flora and fauna.

Object Characteristics: Clicking on flora and fauna led to two pages of images encompassing 54 photographs. Clicking on each image enlarges that image and gives a small caption about it. From both the thumbnail gallery page or the enlarged image page the user has the ability to add an image to the lightbox. The lightbox is a link to an ordering system for the pictures.

Metadata: On the thumbnail page only the View Details and Add to Lightbox metadata are visible. Once the user selects an image and enlarges that image, a caption regarding the subject of the image (Title: Pingao plants on Eastbourne Beach) and a registratration number (Reg. no: F.002163/02) are apparent. Also on the enlarged image page are links to the next and previous picture in the gallery. If an item is added to the lightbox for possible ordering and the user clicks on view lightbox, the following metadata are present: spaces for the user to enter their e-mail address, name , and phone number. Furthermore a larger space is provided so that the user can enter information to answer the query: How do you plan to use these image/s?

Intended Audience: I believe the intended audience for the Te Papa Picture Library is anyone interested in New Zealand or at least that area of Oceania. Of course, kiwis have an advantage in that they can visit the museum more easily in person to see its other holdings, including the images not selected for digitization. Nevertheless, surfers on the internet can still access the digitized photos as I did and can even order them. Therefore, while the national pride New Zealanders feel about their land likely led to the idea for the site, its potential audience is truly global.