LIS432 Cultural Heritage Informatics SPR16: The Musashino Art University Museum & Library (MAU M&L)

THE MUSASHINO ART UNIVERSITY MUSEUM & LIBRARY (MAU M&L)

Tokyo, Japan

This collaborative project is one of both physical and digital spaces, where a combined institution created physically separate facilities while simultaneously developing an integrated digital environment for sharing information and resources locally and globally.

COLLABORATORS

Musashino Art University Museum & Library (MAU M&L), the University’s Research Center for Art and Design, and the connected Image Library, as well as the Folk Art Gallery.

THE INSTITUTION & FACILITY

The Musashino Art University Museum & Library was built in 1967 as a combined facility at the University. A 2010 design competition for a new library building yielded an award-winning and futuristic space that somehow manages to separate the old Museum & Library into two facilities, while at the same time integrating the functions of both library and museum into both new and renovated buildings. Many architectural blogs have written about this building, designed by Sou Fujimoto Architects; a sampling of these are listed in the References at the end of this post.

The Access Map below shows the four major facilities that are part of this complex, and whose collections are in the process of being digitized and/or integrated into a shared OPAC. The brand new building is the Library, which is connected to the Museum (the renovated “Existing Building”) with the Image Library between the two. The Research Center for Art and Design is also housed within the Library & Museum complex (though not shown on this map); the Folk Art Gallery is located on campus separate from the other buildings (the gallery is connected intellectually to the other collections, as will be discussed below).

WHAT DID PARTICIPANTS GAIN?

The two main results of this collaboration were a new library building and a Cross-search system linking all collections.

NEW FACILITIES

The totally new library building illustrates a forward-looking approach to layout and patron movement through physical space. The spiral shape allows for serendipitous discovery of materials in the open stacks, while the availability to quickly navigate to the center of the building (where closed archival material) is held puts both library and special collections materials within easy reach. A more elaborate description of the physical space can be found at this blog, along with photographs of the interior and exterior of the facility. Below are floor plans for the new Library building.

https://beautifulrough.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/musashino-art-university-library/

The new and renovated spaces include exhibition and gallery spaces, special collection viewing rooms, research alcoves, meeting rooms, open stacks, and closed archives. These facilities provide a unified place for patrons to experience library, archive, and museum collections in a university setting. The abundance of multi-purpose spaces, and the collocation of galleries with research and reading rooms, provides opportunities for users to engage with materials in a variety of ways, facilitating the success of both students and faculty education and research.

DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS

The other major product of this collaboration is the combined digital catalog and the beginnings of digitized special collections. In a 2013 article Michiyo Honjo, Managing Director of the Research Center for Art and Design at the Musashino University Art Museum & Library, describes the process of creating digital exhibits, applications, and union catalogs that represent collections from across the library, archive, special collections, and museum. These digital archives and catalogues are examples of progress in the Library & Museum’s mission, or what Honjo terms “our fundamental objective of enabling wide use of our resources all over the world.” (pg. 18)

NATURAL HISTORY ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION

The development of the MAU M&L Natural History app represents a collaboration between special collections and the Research Center to digitize and disseminate visual information contained in the rare books and journals of the Natural History Illustration Collection. The popular app, available in English and Japanese, contains high-resolution images with descriptive metadata from some of the over 600 books in the collection. Unfortunately, the videos on natural history documentation and visual media are in Japanese only at this point, but the images available are an incredible resource for scientist and artists interested in primary source and inspiration material. The beginning of an apparent tagging system indicates that other digital archives could be added to the app in the future (as discussed in Honjo 2013).

This shows the subject tags that have been applied, just one indicator of the potential expansion of special collection content in future app updates.

CROSS-SEARCH CATALOG

The Cross-search catalog integrates the disparate databases for the Library, Museum, Rare Books, Folk Art, and Image Library collections. This interface provides a federated search of all materials held across the institution. Images of the Modern Design Chair Collection have been linked in the Artworks catalog, as have images for their collection of toys. The Folk Art catalogs also contain digitized content, as well as galleries for a variety of categories of objects and mediums.

http://library.musabi.ac.jp/cass2/topmnu.do

These web portals are generally usable by anyone, regardless of their language, when viewed in a browser with a translation feature such as Google Chrome. One downside to this portals is that not all text on each page is translated. As shown in the screenshots below, each individual database has a different structure, with translatable fields varying between interfaces. I was able to complete searches in most databases, but definitely was at a disadvantage in others, where pull-down search menus and other navigational links did not translate. Below are screenshots illustrating the translated and untranslated portals for two of the individual databases.

Art works independent search portal, before translation

Art works independent search portal, with Google Translation

Translated Folk Art database faceted search page

Individual gallery within the Folk Art web portal

WERE BARRIERS ENCOUNTERED?

One major challenge identified by Honjo has been the creation of shared database/catalog records for the great variety of special collections and museum objects, and integrating these records into a productive federated search. As Honjo describes:

This is a project that aims to enable single-platform searches of the contents of a ‘Museum Artwork Holdings Database’, a ‘Library Book Holdings Database’, a ‘Rare Books Database’, a ‘Visual Materials Database’, and a ‘Folk Art Database’. We know of no other comparable undertaking.

The first stage in developing this project, a cross-search system for our ‘Museum Artwork Holdings Database’ and ‘Library Book Holdings Database’, is complete and is now up and running. The second stage will be to develop the middleware to enable the linking of the databases, which have been constructed using four different software applications, to enable retrieval of information from all of them. (pg. 20)

The other barrier to creating a comprehensive digital environment was the sheer volume of materials to be managed, which required careful prioritization for both digitization and linking of data and images. The natural history illustrations were published materials clear of copyright issues and thus could be digitized and "used" in a digital archive most readily. The other collections with images linked to their catalog records are the design collections and archive materials, as these most directly enhance and facilitate the teaching and research missions of the university. Although all items are cataloged and can be located in the Cross-search, they do not all have the same level of metadata attached to their records and many do not yet include visual documentation.

WAS THE PROJECT A SUCCESS (OR FAILURE)?

These projects appear to be successful and to be progressing at a steady pace! As noted above, some items had been previously documented (notably the chair and poster collections) and thus these images could be added to the existing records in the Art Works and Folk Art collections. Other items have been photographed and linked since 2013. Now all records are available, but many items remain to be documented and linked to their corresponding database records. The digital products (websites, catalogs, and apps) are clearly being made such that all stakeholders (library, museum, research center, special collections and archives) can make use of them, and the collections and facilities appear to be used by university faculty and students, and outside researchers. Other indicators of success are that the MAUM&L Natural History app was named to the App Store Best of 2012 list, and the library building won the overall Leaf Award 2012 for excellence in international architecture. The architecture of the building has been praised in many blog posts, and was featured in a 2010 photography book.

On the other hand it is hard to gauge success for the digital collections because the ultimate goal of broader outside access to materials has not been documented. Although the MAU M&L has been part of the international discussion about art libraries and art documentation since the 1980s, their digital project is not one of the documented projects participating in the Japan Art Documentation Society (JADS). (Mizutani, 2013). It was hard to tell if the institution is trying to become part of the Art Libraries Consortium (ALC), which is a Tokyo based union catalog of art libraries. Honjo noted that one of the goals of the institution is the provide access to their materials locally and internationally. As of 2012 membership in the ALC was expanding, but the collections at the MAU M&L were not completed to the point of networking outside the institution in 2013. (Honjo pgs. 18 and 20)

The success of these digital collections is integral to the mission of the Library & Museum, which stresses the education and research potential of their materials, and a desire to provide wide access to them. Currently, some parts of the physical collections are limited to those working with the university directly (local and affiliated students, faculty, and researchers, but not the general public) and so continued work to link digital images of all material would greatly enhance access by broader audiences.

LESSONS LEARNED?

The primary lessons learned are:

1. Shared space containing a variety of different materials will provide users with more streamlined access to those materials, while at the same time can allow for collaboration, advanced research and education.

2. Physically open and integrated facilities encourages a sense of community and creativity.

3. Creating a good digital infrastructure will provide opportunities for future expansion of your collection databases as well as linking to external catalogs (perhaps those of the ALC)

REFERENCES:

Honjo, M. 2013. “How to connect: joining up the archives at Musashino Art University Museum & Library.” Art Libraries Journal 38(2): 17-20

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Mizutani, T. 2013. “Art libraries and art documentation in Japan, 1986-2012: progress in networking museums, libraries and archives and the ALC: Art Libraries’ Consortium.” Art Libraries Journal 38(2): 6-10.
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