Collection & Content Policy
1. Mission Statement
The purpose of the Repository of Hand Knitted Items is to record, preserve and exhibit examples of hand knitted objects in a digital environment.
The aim of the collection is to grow over the next five years to incorporate other handcrafts including, but not limited to, crochet, cross stitch and sewing.
2. Users
The collection will be available to members of the public. They will have access to the entire collection.
Users of the digital collection may use the objects and photographs in the collection under a Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license. This allows users to share, copy, distribute and transmit the objects and images under the specific conditions of the license.
3. Content
The collection is made up of individual knitted objects, sub-categorised by type of object within the overall collection. For example; clothing, accessories, home and toys. The objects are represented by digital images in the collection, however the physical objects themselves are not collected.
Metadata will be created using the Dublin Core metadata standard to describe each knitted object including, but not limited to type of object, knitting techniques used, pattern, yarn and needles used. To preserve the provenance of the objects the knitter of the item, as well as the month and year of knitting will be recorded.
Each knitted object is represented by multiple digital images, the main image showing the finished object in its entirety, as well as images of any interesting details where appropriate. This is limited to five images total per knitted object in order to conserve server space.
4. Format
The collection contains digital images of finished hand knitted objects in two file formats where possible: TIFF and JPEG. The master files will be stored as TIFF files, while the JPEG files will be displayed on the digital library’s website.
The following naming convention will be used when naming the image files: Category NameofObject ImageNumber[1to5], for example Accessory-SlushieCowl-1.jpeg
Both TIFF and JPEG files will have the same filename, but a different file extension.
5. Additions to the digital library
Members of the public can submit digital images of their own knitted objects to the collection and will be required to submit certain details including, but not limited to type of object, techniques used, pattern, yarn and needles used. Links to external websites for the pattern and yarns used should also be provided if available. The library will be checked periodically for dead external links. Photographs should be submitted in TIFF format where possible.
Final approval of these submissions lies with the Digital Librarian and will be based on the quality of the submission.