Digital Library Services (DLS) will be launching a university-wide showcase website for digital collections, Ibali, powered by Omeka S. Currently in the developing and testing phase, Ibali is part of a UCT Libraries drive to nurture an Open Access space where institutional collections can be created, curated, published and showcased. Together with the UCT's community of data stewards, we are building our own GLAM Lab.

Omeka S is a web publishing platform for GLAMs (Galleries | Libraries | Archives | Museums), designed to create relationships between objects in collections as well as describe them through linked open data resources on the internet. The ‘S’ in Omeka S stands for ‘semantic’, as in connecting to the semantic web, where data in web pages is structured and tagged. Its primary focus is on organizing elements of a collection such that the links in between items and the greater elements of the internet are strengthened, allowing for much more relevant searches and deeper explorations.

A digital collection showcase on Ibali will allow users to experience their own ‘stories’ by navigating the links between items and through collections. With its campus-wide launch, members of the UCT community will be able to organize their own collections, build their own linkages, and publish them as shared stories. DLS will provide support and training as well as guidance throughout the process for data stewards building collections.

As part of preparing for the launch, DLS is running monthly workshop sessions. Each session has its own theme and will focus on a different aspect of the Omeka S software. This will give participants an opportunity to get familiar with the new Ibali platform from using it to building sites of collections.