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Veenendaal City Archives uses CONTENTdm to put its unique photo collection onlineOCLC PICA’s first European CONTENTdm customer translates the interface into Dutch and integrates the collection into its Web siteBy Ralph Münzenmayer
“We chose CONTENTdm because it was the most user-friendly solution for our needs,” said Dave Eickhoff, Archivist at the Veenendaal City Archives. “We work with volunteers who are not always very experienced in IT, but they could use this system very well. On top Eickhoff set up CONTENTdm exactly the way Veenendaal wanted it: integrated into the City Archives’ Web site. And because the contents had to be as accessible as possible, he translated the English interface into Dutch—one of the many customization choices to adapt the software precisely to individual requirements. The volunteers took care of scanning an initial 1,500 pictures and put them online with metadata. The archives also put current pictures of the city in the database to allow viewers to compare views of the past and present. The plan is to eventually have an archive with tens of thousands of pictures available to the public.
To view the Veenendaal photo collection, which has been online since December 1, 2005, go to www.gemeentearchief. About Veenendaal Veenendaal is a lively city in the heart of the Netherlands, located in the southeastern corner of the central province of Utrecht. It is home to more than 61,000 people, 2,500 businesses, 550 shops and numerous other public facilities. In the coming years, a completely new city district will be built and opened.
About CONTENTdm CONTENTdm provides a complete solution to help libraries, archives, museums and other institutions store, manage and deliver their digital collections to the Web. Institutions can showcase a wide range of media types—from photographs, documents, newspapers and maps to audio and video files—and turn their special collections into fully searchable online resources available from any Web browser. About OCLC PICA OCLC PICA is the European library cooperative and offers an extensive range of leading edge and high-tech products and services for both library professionals and library users. Thousands of patrons use OCLC PICA systems daily for automated cataloging, retrieval, interlibrary loan and conservation. With headquarters in Leiden (the Netherlands), subsidiaries in Oberhaching (Germany) and Sheffield (UK), and regional offices in Birmingham, Paris, Cologne, Berlin, Basel, Melbourne and Kansas City, OCLC PICA is owned by OCLC and Stichting Pica. More information about OCLC PICA can be found at www.oclcpica.org . |
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History has become quite popular again. People want to know about their ancestors, their city and what their street used to look like. Anticipating this interest, the archives of the Dutch city of Veenendaal decided to put online part of its rich photo collection, which includes a large number of pictures and postcards. The digitization aspect was not difficult but managing the files and easily getting them online presented a challenge.
of that, we liked the fact that CONTENTdm is a complete package and does not require any modules and user licenses to be bought separately.” 
Thanks to CONTENTdm, these images are accessible anywhere in the world without any danger of wear and tear
or reliance on staff availability and facility
operating hours. Future plans call for adding 8 mm films, maps, notarial deeds and more. 
The City Archives’ oldest item dates from 1546 and comes from the Peat Council, which used to organize the turf digging in those years. Veenendaal literally translates into ‘turf valley.’ Over the years, the City Archives have acquired various postcard, press photo and amateur photo collections. The total collection of the Veenendaal City Archives fills about 2.5 km shelf space.