Dear MCG Colleagues,

The National Galleries of Scotland are delighted to have launched our  new Collections website last week.   You may have seen our press release, but just in case you missed it, it is below.
Our entire catalogue of approximately 95,000 objects and over 35,000 digitised images are now available to view online.

This has been released as a beta site so any feedback is most welcome.

https://art.nationalgalleries.org

Best regards,

Sean

Sean McDonald
Chief Information Officer (Acting)
National Galleries of Scotland


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Pictured: The Storm, 1890 by William McTaggart. Oil on canvas, 122 x 183 cm. Collection: Scottish National Gallery, presented by Mrs Andrew Carnegie 1935.

Entire National Galleries of Scotland collection to become digitally accessible as the Galleries launches innovative new website



The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) will today launch its brand new Online Collection site, which for the first time will enable Scotland's entire national art collection to be digitally accessible.



The launch signals the completion of the first phase of the NGS website's major redevelopment, fulfilling our intention to have all of our art accessible digitally by anybody from anywhere via any device at any time. Access to Scotland's national art collection will now be dramatically improved, with the online publishing of our entire catalogue of approximately 95,000 objects. Now, over 35,000 digitised images are available to view online, while the rest of the collection will be digitised over the next five years, appearing as it is so.



The new website has been specifically designed to have a clean and intuitive interface which showcases the exceptional breadth and depth of the collection. With the site, we have focused on creating a stronger sense of engagement with the user - visitors can now log in to their own account, while high-resolution images can now be favourited, downloaded, deep-zoomed and easily shared on social media thanks to this accessible interface (some images and features are subject to copyright restrictions).



For personal use, all of the Galleries' images will now be available to download for free. Also, visitors will now have the ability to order prints from a much wider selection of our images, with the number of high-quality prints of newly digitised works increasing from 600 to over 25,000. Now, members of the public can have their favourite art from Scotland's national collection adorn their walls in only a matter of days.



John Leighton, Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: "The new Collection site serves as a fantastic window to explore our world-class collection, opening it up as a resource for everybody to use, from leisurely enjoyment of the arts all the way through to academic research. We are now one step closer to seeing the entire national art collection digitally available, while the public now have new and exciting ways to engage with the artworks. It is a milestone in the Galleries' commitment to deliver exemplary and engaging digital services to the public".



The launch coincides with the Celebrating Scotland's Art project at the Scottish National Gallery (SNG), which will fundamentally change the way the Scottish art is displayed, and which the new site will support.



The SNG is set to undergo an ambitious major redevelopment which will triple the space available to the Scottish collection and radically improve visitor access and circulation throughout the whole Gallery complex.


The new website is being classed as a trial "beta" site, a near-complete test site which will be launched in parallel to the existing one. Visitors are and will be encouraged to provide feedback in order to make both the new website and the transition as efficient as possible. The public will also be encouraged to report any data issues resulting from the switchover, which will be reviewed and addressed as quickly as possible.

The rest of the NGS website will be redeveloped before the end of 2016. As part of this larger project, the existing website including the Visit, What's On, Shop, Education and Research sections will make the transition over to the beta site and adopt our new layout, in order to add even more exciting and engaging ways of interacting with the collection.



The site has been designed and built in conjunction with Blonde Digital, a full service digital agency based in Leith, Edinburgh.



-ENDS-

Sean McDonald
Chief Information Officer (Acting)
The Studio
National Galleries of Scotland
73 Belford Road
Edinburgh EH4 3DR

Map: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/grounds/

Tel:  +44 (0)131 624 6415
www.nationalgalleries.org<http://www.nationalgalleries.org/>

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[linkedin image]<https://www.linkedin.com/pub/sean-mcdonald/34/28a/a09>


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National Galleries of Scotland is a charity registered in Scotland (No. SC003728) Registered address: 73 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DS. VAT No. GB100190482

www.nationalgalleries.org

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