New OCLC Software Supports Art Museums’ Exchange of Data and Information about Collections

A new software suite just released by OCLC Research will help art museums exchange object descriptions and share data.  In much the same way as OCLC supports member libraries in sharing data about their collections, the new COBOAT software allows museums to share information and digital images with other museums and content aggregators such as ARTstor and OCLC. 

COBOAT Software was developed as part of the Museum Data Exchange Project, the goal of which is to create tools to support data sharing and to analyze the extent to which current museum data would allow for search and retrieval of information within an aggregated context.  The project was partially funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 

"We have made every effort over the years to share information about our collections as widely as possible. The availability of these new tools promises to turn existing ad-hoc processes into a streamlined and standardized activity," said Doralynn Pines, associate director for administration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

For more details see the release from OCLC.