Culture byte by byte

Abstract

Purpose

This column aims to explore a slice of digital art librarianship, examining some of the tools used in this field along with some examples of how institutions have tackled the ever‐changing world of digital images.

Design/methodology/approach

This column is exploratory, and outlines some of the relationships between the Visual Resource Association, their core standard and sites such as ARTstor which utilize the VRA Core standard.

Findings

The paper finds that the area of digital art and imagery has changed rapidly over the last decade. New standards have been developed to describe and preserve digital representations of works.

Practical implications

It is important for everyone involved in this field to respect those standards and attempt to follow a certain level of consistency in their cataloging and preservation methods.

Originality/value

This column examines a key standard in the area of digital image metadata and how that standard has been utilized by well‐funded organizations such as ARTstor for the general welfare of the academic and research community.

Citation

Fox, R. (2008), "Culture byte by byte", OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 192-198. https://doi.org/10.1108/10650750810914193