Michigan State University Museum

Building on a successful pilot phase, this collaboration will develop a Quilt Index as an innovative national model for distributed online management and presentation of thematic collections for museums and libraries. The three main goals, determined through needs assessment, are to (1) create a critical mass of quilt objects and information online; (2) enhance online access to the U.S. quilt and quilt information collections in museums, libraries, and archives through improved content management and interoperability; and (3) enhance the value, usefulness, and relevance of the Index's thematic presentation. The model for distributed collections development around a theme can be applied to many different cultural heritage and natural resource areas, from fossil types to historic toy objects. The Index's innovative design pilots a distributed system for entering customized local data that can be replicated locally and shared globally. For libraries, museums, exhibitors, and collections with object-specific foci, the project will offer a model and a road map for creating an online preservation, management, and presentation system.