How we supported Irvine Bay with a new image library

12/08/2015

How we supported Irvine Bay with a new image library

Before we supported Irvine Bay they had amassed an extensive image library of over 9000 images. We found that the team had secured numerous local Glaswegian professional photographers. They had been involved in contributing into the image library and delivering those 9000 images. It formed part of a larger website that documented the Bay’s large regeneration projects, press calls, education program and events. The gallery, supported by those photographers would capture a series of landscapes and lifestyle images. The library was also supported by the contributions of Irvine Bay project managers of regeneration sites.

However, what was life like for the team pre-digital image library?

As each file can be up to 16 Mb in size, you can imagine that the library had become quite a burden on the Irvine Bay server. We identified that it would benefit from the images being stored elsewhere in order to free up space. Some good news for the team was that the images were being stored in a logical tree structure as per the town name and project title. However, the sheer number of images and the increasing amount of live projects meant that finding them was difficult. The team had become over-reliant on the marketing manager’s knowledge of the library.

So, what was the solution

It was therefore decided that an asset management solution should be considered. Irvine Bay looked at a variety of solutions for storing, adding metadata (keywords) and searching images. At that time it was thought a local solution would meet requirements. However conversations with the team revealed that it was likely that a server-based or online solution would be required.

The decision to trial a mainstream locally run software solution resulted in McAteer Photography being asked to add metadata (add keywords) to each image in the library. We believed this would enable users to then be able to search for images more easily. Having achieved this task, tests were carried out as to the feasibility of exporting cataloguing work. Ideally this would be done remotely, in this case by us.

The online solution was agreed upon

Whilst this did work, it became apparent that an online solution would now be more to help Irvine Bay’s team. That online solution would assist the team’s current workflow requirements:

Marketing manager – That the manager be able to access and download the images both locally and remotely.
Project managers and other stakeholders – These team members needed to be able to access the images. They also wanted to search by keyword, and download at a resolution appropriate to their needs.
Graphic designer –The individual wanted to be able to access the images required for Irvine Bay print remotely.
Web administrators – These individuals were required to be able to access remotely the images required for the Irvine Bay website and e-bulletins.

A project delivered in partnership – With McAteer Photography

Having been involved throughout the process, McAteer Photography was asked to look at how a cost-effective online solution could be achieved. As specialists in photography and video work they could appreciate the importance of having a robust and functioning image library. This was a relatively easy task as, during that same time period, McAteer Photography had been investigating image library solutions for their own company. This meant they could easily adopt a solution and had the latest up-to-date findings to hand. To our joy, they recommended us and our IMediaflow solution. They knew of our track record, expertise and competitive rates, and were happy to use us.

The team behind the image library technology

We at CiT Digital are Sheffield based and a leading supplier of digital asset management solutions for the image library market. Our clients include RSPB and The National Trust for Scotland along with many other organisations. We have built bespoke image libraries for all of these, some of which asked us to provide managed support services for.

The image library, called i-Mediafllow is delivered by us at CiT. We are proud to say it met all of Irvine Bay’s needs, and more. Find out more about i-Mediaflow.