(New York, June 2, 2010) -- The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that it has entered a partnership with Berg Publishers, the leading academic and reference imprint owned by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, to enable more than 2,000 images of The Costume Institute's collection to be made available through the Berg Fashion Library, a new online resource launching in late June 2010.
The Berg Fashion Library is an online portal that will enable users to locate images as well as reference and research materials on the subject of costume and dress. The Library will increase the accessibility of fashion objects held in disparate collections across the world through sophisticated search and browse functions. Berg's classification system will make it easy for students, scholars, and curators to see clothing and related objects, and to link to relevant content providing historical and cultural context. Thumbnail images from The Costume Institute's collection will be displayed within the Berg Fashion Library, and users will be able to click through to the Met's website for further information.
"We are delighted to announce this partnership with Berg, as it will make images from our collection available to new audiences throughout the world," said Harold Koda, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute. "The Berg Fashion Library
should bring more students to our site and help curators searching for exhibition objects."
Kathryn Earle, Managing Director of Berg Publishers, added: "This project enables students, researchers, and curators throughout the world to learn more about the dress objects featured in this glorious collection. The Met, even before the addition of the Brooklyn Museum's impressive costume collection, has long been at the forefront of international fashion collections. Many of our users never have the opportunity to see the Met's holdings in person, but they can get a sense of the importance of the collection from their desktops, and learn more about the history and culture of the full range of featured dress from the Berg Fashion Library's reference content."
About the Berg Fashion Library
The Berg Fashion Library will be the first online portal to offer comprehensive coverage of dress and fashion around the world by providing access to interdisciplinary and integrated image, book, and journal content.
Informed by prestigious academic and library advisors, the library will offer cross-searchable access to an expanding range of content collections (for example, the new ten-volume Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion) and images from internationally renowned collections. All content will be underpinned by a specially created and highly detailed taxonomy to enhance search and browse.
The Berg Fashion Library will be available through Oxford University Press by annual subscription. For further information, visit www.bergfashionlibrary.com.
For more information about The Costume Institute, go to www.metmuseum.org.
###
Press resources