Comments on: NYPL web gallery

NYPL web gallery

caddis — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 07:08:14 -0800

New York Public Library Digital Gallery now online. The NYPL has put online a huge gallery of photos, paintings and graphics. (via the New York Times)

By: homodigitalis

homodigitalis — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 07:25:27 -0800

Ohhh yes! We need more digital libraries like this one. Excellent news!

By: scratch

scratch — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 07:35:18 -0800

Caddis beat me to the post! I've just scrolled through the list. The sheer size of the archive is amazing. I'll get even less work done now, but I'll be spending my time wisely.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 07:46:03 -0800

Show us your NYPLs!!!

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 07:53:15 -0800

If anyone wants a healthy dose of snark, the NYT article saying "ooh, it's good, but not great" is here.

By: Brockstar

Brockstar — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 08:25:10 -0800

I wonder what the copyright restrictions on this stuff is...

By: attackthetaxi

attackthetaxi — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 09:29:46 -0800

Ending the NYT's first paragraph: 'The Public Library's digital gallery is lovely, dark and deep. Quite eccentric, too.' Perhaps you take issue with this paragraph, grapefruitmoon: 'Despite the Web site's great richness, sleek looks and fast response to a mouse click, it does feel a bit musty. The digital gallery is modeled on an old-fashioned card catalog, with all the attendant creaks. Doing a search is like going into a library and opening file drawers.' Well, why not have it that way? Nicholson Baker must must be jumping up and down with joy. If I missed something, let me know, but the review seems glowing.

By: attackthetaxi

attackthetaxi — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 09:31:18 -0800

Brockstar, read the second paragraph, for crying out loud.

By: attackthetaxi

attackthetaxi — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 09:34:42 -0800

Ooops, the NYT article wasn't in the original post. My bad, Brockstar.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 10:07:01 -0800

*snark* Despite the Web site's great richness, sleek looks and fast response to a mouse click, it does feel a bit musty. The digital gallery is modeled on an old-fashioned card catalog, with all the attendant creaks. Doing a search is like going into a library and opening file drawers. For instance, you can't get a list of all the photographers or the printmakers or the artists - only an alphabetical list of every proper name in the digital library. */snark* Do you see what I was saying?

By: scratch

scratch — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 11:11:02 -0800

Not snark. It's simply a critical assessment of what is offered and not offered.

By: cedar

cedar — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 11:49:47 -0800

Wow, despite The Times review I thinks it's attractive and easy to both browse and search. This is good. Very very good.

By: attackthetaxi

attackthetaxi — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 12:41:42 -0800

The site is a gem. Thanks, caddis.

By: immerito

immerito — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 13:37:58 -0800

The site is impressive by virtue of the sheer quantity of what it contains. But you might say the same thing about walking into a huge warehouse too. To me, what's more impressive than scale are sites that offer tools or context that add some kind of value on top of the records in the database. Because, in the end, the only special about this is that so much is now accessible online. To be commended, for sure, but access is only half of what the web can do, no?