The provision of the technical infrastructure for publishing and archiving digital image and object collections in Open Access is one of the services of Heidelberg University Library for Propylaeum. The service is aimed at classical and ancient scholars worldwide.

Particularly in the rapidly developing digital humanities, image data and multimedia objects are among the most important tools. With heidICON, Propylaeum provides a digital and interdisciplinary image and multimedia repository that is specially tailored to the requirements of these file formats. The software easydb (version 5) from Programmfabrik GmbH, Berlin is used.

The hierarchical and object-oriented data management is aimed at a description of cultural assets and enables a differentiated, event-based deep exploration. The structure of the data model is based on the XML schema LIDO (Lightweight Information Describing Objects), an XML-based application of CIDOC CRM, which was developed by the LIDO Working Group of the International Committee for Documentation (ICOM).

With heidICON it is possible to assign DOIs and persistent URIs at the data record level. The database offers interoperability and reusability through IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) and with the integration of controlled vocabulary and norm data (such as GND, GeoNames, daiGazetteer) central linked open data principles are fulfilled. All functions in heidICON can be controlled via a comprehensive programming interface (API).

heidICON also serves as an aggregate database for networking with national and international reference tools such as prometheus, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB) or Europeana.

Here is a selection of collections that use heidICON as a publication platform:

• Ägyptologie Archiv
• Ägyptologie Ramessidengräber
• Archäologische Landschaften
• Roland Hampe – Bilddokumente
• SKVO: Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orient

Using a JavaScript application, the image and multimedia collections can be equipped with an individual (search) interface in a kind of "shop window", either into the Propylaeum or adapted to the layout of the web presence of the imaging institution.

Image and object collections with a "shop window":

• Ernst Wahle – Bilddokumente

Publications in preparation:

• Antikensammlung (Heidelberg)
• Ägyptologische Sammlung (Heidelberg)

We offer an introduction to the use and functionalities of heidICON on site at Heidelberg University Library.

If you are interested in the provision and archiving of existing digital image collections or are currently in the planning phase of a project, please contact us!