Bringing local history images to light.
Manchester Library had a treasure trove of 100,000 images, but they were stuck in an old system with poor functionality and security issues. They needed a way of making the images available to the community, and for their own staff to use as a research tool.
We helped the Library join the Manchester Museums Group to take advantage of the shared data platform. On top of that we built a custom look and feel with the library’s brand, and a clean aesthetic that let the content shine.
Using an AI-driven process, we enriched the catalogue by extracting text from images, and adding reliable captions and tags. Users can now search, filter and use facets across thousands of records. This means that you can also search for text found in shop windows. And on top of all this we built a lightweight tool to quickly save and share your own collections of images, without logging in or saving personal data.
Working with Mike, Jeremy, Kevin and the whole Museum Platform team has been nothing short of excellent. I am leading on a large National Lottery Heritage Fund project for the first time and I was nervous beginning the project and committing to a company. The Museum Platform’s team quickly put me at ease. All our discussions have been friendly, productive and incredibly well organised. The team has produced a beautiful new Local Image website for Manchester Libraries as well as going above and beyond for our service, such as creating an interim website for us when working on our final product. I could not recommend The Museum Platform enough and they have made managing a funded project feel easy.
– Malcolm Cohn, Project Manager
Quick facts
- Over 100,000 images available online
- Bespoke shared data platform
- AI-enriched catalogue data
Look out for..
- Text search within images
- Lightweight user-generated collections
