About CollectionBuilder
Most of our digital collections are generated using CollectionBuilder, an open source minimal infrastructure platform developed by a team of librarians at the University of Idaho.
CollectionBuilder is driven by metadata and powered by static-web technology, so it’s intuitive for librarians to use, lightweight, customizable, and secure. CollectionBuilder requires only a simple spreadsheet of metadata and a directory of digital objects to facilitate multiple modes of entry into a digital collection by generating timelines, maps, and browsing features that contextualize the collection’s historic items. Following a Collections as Data model, CollectionBuilder also generates collection data files in multiple formats for researchers and patrons to download and explore.
The University of Idaho Digital Collections are created using a version of CollectionBuilder that acts as a “skin” on top of our digital library collections that are maintained via a hosted CONTENTdm instance.
Simple yet powerful, CollectionBuilder ensures that digital curation and preservation is in the hands of librarians. Read more about CollectionBuilder’s minimal-computing approach at https://collectionbuilder.github.io/.
The University of Idaho’s Digital Initiatives team has received grant funding to support further development of CollectionBuilder, including:
- National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), titled “Growing CollectionBuilder, A Sustainable Digital Exhibit Framework and Static Web Development Model”, 2022 to 2024.
- Digital Humanities Advancement grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
- National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), 2019 to 2021.