Leveraging New Online Resources

2010 SHRAB ConferencesTuesday April 6th, 2010

Richard McCoyAssociate Conservator Indianapolis Museum of Art

Richard McCoyAssociate Conservator of Objects & Variable Art

IMA? What’s

the IMA?

Main Building•Encyclopedic Collection of Art. •More than 50,000 artworks in the collection. •National & international exhibitions

Garden and Grounds

Oldfields-Lilly House

•National Historic Landmark•26 Acre Estate•Interpreted as the 1930s home of J.K. Lilly

The Miller House and Gardens

Designed by Eero SaarinenInteriors by Alexander GirardLandscape design by Daniel Urban Kiley

We’ve got archives everywhere.

• Institution opened 126 years ago• We have 2 libraries

– Stout Reference Library– Horticultural Society Libarary

• Archives relating to our 2 National Historic Landmarks• Lots of “grey collections”

– Conservation – Registration– Curatorial– Design & Installation

I’m not an archivist!

IMA Archivist = Jennifer Whitlock

But I rely on the IMA’s archives to make good decision about what I

do every day.

Nam June Paik, "Who's your Tree," 1996. Installation view at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 2009. Now and Future Purchase Fund and Robert and Ina

Mohlman Art Fund. Copyright, The Estate of Nam June Paik.

1996 Signed document by Nam June Paik from the IMA's Registrataion Files

So, can I put these monitors in now?

I create new archives everyday

• Each of the 8 inaugural projects at 100 Acres will have its own dedicated set of files that will guide us on how to care for the installations (documents, images, e-mails, audio, video, etc).

• Each of the artworks I work on in my conservation lab has a corresponding set of files.

At the IMA we’re interested in finding new ways to share our information.

Robert Irwin: Light and Space III

But it’s not just the IMA & Large Institutions that are using social media

Shelburne Museum in Vermont

Lafayette/West Lafayette Nostalgia – Do You Remember …

Look here

335 Comments on Burger Chef?

But, listen, I’m really busy and I don’t have time for all of that extra work.

– I don’t have time to start a blog– I don’t have time to start a Flickr account– I don’t have time to start a YouTube account– I don’t have time to start a Twitter account– I don’t have time to start a Facebook group

Missions Mash Up

So, really why should I do it?• Web 2.0 tools have allowed us to have more ownership

of and public interaction with the information contained in cultural institutions and around cultural property.

• There is much greater potential for us to create relevant information around it using online applications.

• Reposition institutions to better serve their mission and institutional values.

• Provide more “value” to visitors (online and in person) in an effort to increase support and advocate for your institution.

• Connect to new communities• Think big, have fun, experiment, and solve the big

problems.

You don’t have to re-invent the wheel

http://socialmedia4collectionscare.wikispaces.com/

What can be done in Indiana to help care for our archives &

libraries that helps us care for our cultural property and puts it into a

global context?

rmccoy@imamuseum.org

Nancie’s Social Media Wiki http://socialmedia4collectionscare.wikispaces.com/

• Use your materials to meaningfully engage your patrons, and the people who use your archives.

• Share your information, your images. Demonstrate why you enjoy your job, why you got into the field you’ve chosen.