Digital Asset Management for Libraries
Libraries of the digital age are no longer institutions with paper cards, stern staff, and a lingering smell of dust that past generations were used to. Today, electronic media and online communication tools are at the forefront of their activities. They provide everyone with access to interesting, important, and valuable information. But with them come the problems of the new generation.
The main question is how to avoid drowning in endless amounts of data? How do you find what you need when it comes to millions of documents in various formats? The solution in this situation is specialized digital asset management systems for libraries. These platforms become guides that help you navigate through tons of information and get the most out of it.
Let's find out what kind of software it is, how it can be used in libraries, and what functions it offers.
What Are Digital Asset Management Systems and Why Do Libraries Need Them?
A digital asset management (DAM) system is a software platform designed to store, organize, quickly retrieve, and share files. It is often used to automate workflows and serves as a “hub” that connects various services and applications, routing data flows between them.
The main reason for using DAM in libraries is the possibility of finding the right documents within minutes rather than hours or even days. It significantly speeds up the processes of teaching, research, writing books and articles, and creating reference books for general use.
However, the role of a digital asset management system is not limited to quick file searching. It also allows you to trace the links between traditional text documents and multimedia content such as movies, videos, audio recordings, photos, etc. It can even link digitized copies to physical originals, which are crucial for scientific work. This makes the use of library archives more productive and interesting for professionals and ordinary citizens alike.
Digital asset management systems are also valuable from a legal point of view. They allow for monitoring the rights to use certain files and related materials. The software platform will help avoid copyright infringement and unauthorized dissemination of information. It can be used to select assets that require renewal of permissions and even determine whether it is advisable to continue using such files.
Key Aspects of Digital Asset Management for Libraries
More and more libraries around the world are adapting to new trends and moving into the digital space. To make this process more convenient and efficient, they need a capacious storage facility and a functional digital asset management system. Let's take a closer look at what tasks this software is supposed to accomplish.
Organizing eBooks
Digital asset management systems greatly simplify access to library materials. They allow visitors to search for books by title, author's name, and descriptive characteristics, such as:
- Genre;
- The book length in characters, pages, or volumes;
- Being a part of a particular series orcollection;
- Time of writing;
- Original and translation languages;
- Cross-references.
A real revolution in this area is the use of artificial intelligence. It allows users to form queries using simple natural phrases. For example, “a book by a 19th-century French author about traveling.” There is no need to learn how to work with catalogs and query syntax — in almost 95% of cases, the system will provide access to the desired file the first time.
Digital Archive Management
Historical materials such as paper books, manuscripts, photographs, and even clay tablets continue to age. At the same time, they are becoming more accessible to the general public thanks to modern technology. Major universities, research centers, and library networks are launching their programs to digitize historical heritage. They use the latest scanning and recognition methods based on artificial intelligence.
Digital asset management systems for libraries play a significant role in this process. They allow for the automatic sorting and cataloging of such materials, creating easy-to-use archives. These platforms can also use AI to populate metadata with short and accurate tags. They provide quick access to historical data for researchers and anyone interested in a particular topic.
Multimedia Repositories
Modern formats of information presentation allow for a better understanding of research and faster knowledge formation. Therefore, in the digital age, libraries deal with texts, videos, audio recordings, podcasts, illustrations, infographics, drawings, and photos.
Effective metadata management in DAM allows you to find all possible types of objects by a specific query. As a result, a user can form a multidimensional view of a particular concept, historical event, or personality. This approach will be especially useful for schoolchildren and students who have to assimilate large amounts of data quickly. It will increase the likelihood that the most crucial information will be retained in the memory and help get a high grade for the course.
Repository of Research Papers
If you plan to share certain information with the public, it must be in line with the current scientific consensus. This rule is applied both when writing books and popular articles and when filling out websites. In Google's famous EEAT formula, the second E stands for “expertise,” A for “ authoritativeness,” and T for “trustworthiness."
Therefore, if you work with large amounts of information and are even engaged in journalism, you cannot do without references to scientific works. Digital asset management systems turn libraries into repositories of dissertations, academic journals, research studies, and other expert materials. They allow you to quickly dive into various topics and select the necessary statistics, statements, or facts to link to and prove your point. These software platforms greatly simplify the process of fact-checking for journalists, writers, editors, and other interested parties.
Of course, DAM systems will be useful for students, teachers, and researchers as repositories of scientific materials. They will help quickly form the basis for future research and writing new papers. By reducing the time spent on routine work, they will allow you to pay more attention to creative processes.
Digital Art Collections
Elitism remains a problem in art in the 21st century. Only a small number of people can afford to own precious artifacts. Visits to world-famous museums and galleries are also only available to a limited audience. Digital asset management systems for libraries can also address this shortcoming.
Modern technologies make it possible to digitize works of art — to scan paintings, manuscripts, and graffiti in high resolution, create 3D models of sculptures and buildings, and record speeches by famous people in audio. The proliferation of virtual reality makes these digital copies more accessible, detailed, and closer than ever. Wearing a special headset, you can see an artifact even better than in a traditional museum — without lines and crowds, without distance restrictions and the risk of damaging a precious object.
Digital asset management systems allow you to create local, national, and even global catalogs of artworks. They facilitate the search for digital copies and provide access to them for a wide audience. That's why this software is indispensable in the GLAM field — galleries, libraries, archives, and museums.
Event Documentation
Libraries are increasingly becoming the center of public attention. They host lectures, workshops, seminars, public discussions, and other events. Their materials can be used for a long time — for studying, disseminating, and preparing for the next events. In this case, digital asset management systems will be of great help to organizers, who will be able to collect all the necessary data and create promotional materials with minimal time. The software will give them instant access to photos, videos, audio, protocol documents, and promotional brochures.
Libraries often keep information about other events in the local community. They use different formats such as newspaper and magazine clippings, archived copies of sites, and even interviews with participants. Using a digital asset management system allows you to organize this data and form a holistic picture that accurately describes the community's life.
User Access Control
Not all information in libraries is intended for public access. Some sensitive materials may be prohibited for children or teenagers. Public archives also contain partially classified materials available only to authorized persons, such as civil servants, researchers, and students of certain faculties. These may include social research protocols, detailed topographic maps, or emergency instructions.
In this case, digital asset management systems for libraries will be indispensable. They allow you to organize materials in to categories and collections to create specific access rules. Such platforms also provide functions for managing rights and permissions for individual users and workgroups. They also ensure that sensitive information is kept confidential.
Metadata Management
Above, we described various digital objects — texts, images, videos, 3D models, etc. They are completely distinct but have one thing in common — metadata, i.e. descriptive information that helps to catalog and quickly find the right files.
DAM platforms provide you with a wide range of tools that allow you to perform the following operations with metadata:
- Edit;
- Delete;
- Add new fields;
- Upload to spreadsheets, for example, CSV or MS Excel format;
- Fill in tags — manually or automatically.
These tools work for the benefit of all participants in the process, simplifying the work of librarians and improving access to digital materials in archives.
Integration with Library Management Systems
Library Management Systems (LMS) are programs used to catalog physical books, determine their current location, and monitor their use by readers. They can use various automation tools, such as QR codes, ISBN index, etc.
Digital asset management systems for libraries serve as a link between physical and digital archives. They allow readers to find digital copies instead of temporarily unavailable physical copies. They can be used to select all materials related to a particular book, both textual and multimedia.
Backup and Disaster Protection
Centralized knowledge repositories have advantages and disadvantages. An example of the latter is the destruction of the famous Library of Alexandria — according to legend, this event threw humanity back several centuries, slowing down the development of scientific thought.
Disasters are common even today, as the last couple of decades have clearly demonstrated the extreme instability of nature, the political system, and the economy. That's why libraries must be protected and able to recover quickly.
A digital asset management system allows you to create a single digital catalog stored in the cloud rather than on local media. Even if all physical materials and electronic devices are destroyed in a disaster, their copies will remain intact. Any user with Internet access will be able to use them even before the library is fully restored.
Pics.io Digital Asset Management System for Libraries
Pics.io is a universal web-based platform for organizing various digital assets. It supports many file formats, including e-books, text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, videos, and 3D models. This allows you to create versatile digital archives containing research results, artwork, technical documentation, and other similar materials. You can also add links to web pages as digital assets, for example, to link videos on public media platforms to books.
One of the key benefits of Pics.io is its advanced metadata management tools. You can add new fields and clear existing ones in a couple of clicks. The program allows you to create controlled tag vocabularies for team use — the use of standardized syntax makes file searching much easier and speeds up workflows. Moreover, the service has AI tools to automatically select tags, which will be indispensable when digitizing large volumes of physical materials in libraries.
Pics.io also allows you to create digital collections, portfolios, and catalogs without copying files to a single folder. You can distribute them with minimal time and effort and apply automated processing tools to all the items in such collections. Another useful feature is the Pics.io websites. These are personalized portals where you can publish content for download. They are ideal for conducting promotions designed to increase interest in the library and increase its attendance.
The system for digital asset management for libraries Pics.io also integrates seamlessly with custom software, including popular LMS and CMS for publishing content on websites. To create connections between web services and applications, you can use integration platforms like Zapier or develop your solutions using APIs.
Conclusion
The use of digital asset management systems is a fundamentally new stage in the development of libraries in the digital age. These web services allow you to create large-scale digital catalogs convenient for library staff and ordinary readers. They make books, works of art, scientific papers, and other pieces of information more accessible and closer to the general public.
The Pics.io platform offers numerous benefits to libraries. It can be easily integrated into existing IT infrastructure. It offers convenient metadata management tools, including automatic tagging. Pics.io collections allow you to properly organize, quickly process, and instantly share files from various sources, and websites can develop customized portals for promotions. The service even has tools for restricting access to sensitive information, which will be useful for many archives — public and private.
Did you enjoy this article? Give Pics.io a try — or book a demo with us, and we'll be happy to answer any of your questions.