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Moving Image Collections will provide dynamic access to science-related moving images held by a variety of organizations that collect moving images, including archives, libraries, museums, and corporations. The catalog will be made available through a broadly accessible and flexible Web portal that will allow users to conduct highly targeted searches and create customized displays based on the educational or research requirements of the user. It will be developed over two years in close collaboration with the Library of Congress and the Association of Moving Image Archivists.

"Moving images engage all the senses and create a vivid, memorable educational experience," said Grace Agnew, the principal investigator on the project and the Associate University Librarian for Digital Library Systems at the Rutgers University Libraries. "Our goal is to make it simple for an educator - first-grade teacher or university professor - to identify, locate and use the right moving image to dramatically underscore a classroom lesson." Co-author of the book Getting Mileage out of Metadata, Agnew is a frequent lecturer on metadata, digital rights management, digital video and digital imaging.

The project is part of the National Science Foundation's Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education (SMETE) Digital Library initiative, a Web portal for science educators and students. In 2004, the project will move to the Library of Congress, where it will be expanded to include national and international moving image collections in every subject and physical format.

Joseph J. Seneca, university vice president for academic affairs, called the project "an excellent example of the Rutgers Libraries embracing new technology and creatively leveraging it in the service of all of its users, both inside academia and in the community at large."

In its initial phase, the project will provide access to more than 80,000 moving image resources in the sciences from significant U.S. archives, including the Library of Congress, Cable News Network (CNN), National Geographic Television, the National Library of Medicine, the Oregon Health and Sciences University, the University of Washington's Research Channel and the Smithsonian Institution. Collections from these organizations include film, television and digital video resources available, Moving Image Collections will also provide a searchable directory of organizations that collect moving images worldwide.

Rutgers will design the catalog database, including descriptive information for educators, and it will oversee the development of other components. Co-investigators on the project are W. Edward Price, research director of the Interactive Media Technology Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and James DeRoest, the University of Washington's assistant director of University Computing Services. Price and members of the Georgia Tech Interactive Media Technology Center will design the interactive Web site, search engine and display capabilities for the project. DeRoest and colleagues at the University of Washington will design and implement the archives directory database.

The project has been a collaboration with the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) and the Library of Congress since its inception. AMIA President Sam Kula commented, "For the first time, the archivist community has the opportunity to bring together all of its moving to expand the availability of these often "hidden" resources."

The Library of Congress will be the permanent host site for Moving Image Collections after its development. "Moving Image Collections will serve as an engine for national and international collaborations," said Beacher Wiggins, Acting Associate Librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress. "This integrated directory and catalog will be an invaluable resource for critical moving image collections-such a significant yet endangered part of our recorded culture."

Rutgers University Librarian Marianne Gaunt said, "As university libraries expand their digital offerings and incorporate data from diverse sources and in multiple forms, dynamic portals such as 'Moving Image Collections' are essential to make these digital resources both accessible and useful for our patrons."

Interest in the Moving Image Collections project within the moving image community is strong. Noted film critic and historian Leonard Maltin remarked, "Film researchers, archivists and buffs around the world have been eagerly awaiting the day when one could determine, easily and definitively, which films exist and where. It's high time for this project to come to fruition."