The Academic Image Cooperative (AIC):
A DLF Initiative
The Digital Library Federation (DLF) has fostered creation of
an electronic database of images of works of art for use by
teachers and students in survey courses on the history of
art.
Planning for this scalable database began with the forming of
the Academic Image Cooperative (AIC) in January 1999. With
funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and support from the
College Art Association, the AIC produced a prototype database
and image collection in August 2000. Also, the AIC developed
technical, organizational, and policy frameworks for a more
ambitious, online image service-a service capable of identifying,
developing, and disseminating a far larger number of artwork
image collections for curricular and scholarly use.
ArtSTOR
Once planning was complete, the DLF and the Mellon Foundation
began exploring how the AIC's image collection-and the know-how
gained from its development-might be enforded into a more broad
ranging effort. Drawing upon the DLF's work in defining viable
collection policies and strategies, the Foundation moved forward
in April 2001 with its plans to form ArtSTOR -"an independent
not-for-profit organization that will electronically develop,
'store,' and distribute digital images and related scholarly
materials for the study of art, architecture, and other fields in
the humanities."
ArtSTOR is a major advance in the development and
dissemination of visual image resources that support research and
teaching. And ArtSTOR is a major example of the DLF's
effectiveness in promoting the development of innovative online
services that digital libraries require but are not able to
develop independently.
More information about the Academic Image Cooperative is
available from the DLF Web site at
www.diglib.org/collections/aic.htm.
This site contains the AIC's collection policy, standards
framework, business plan, and a comprehensive project report
tracing the history and progress of the AIC from its
inception.
For more information on the DLF, please visit
www.diglib.org, or contact us by
e-mail at dlf@clir.org, by
phone at 202-939-4750, or by post at DLF, Council on Library and
Information Resources, Suite 500, 1755 Massachusetts Ave., NW,
Washington, DC, 20036-2124.
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