A Shared Media Database for a Global Research Team

Founded in 1890, The University of Chicago is one of the world’s leading academic and research institutions, known for shaping new ways of thinking across disciplines. The university is widely recognized as a global intellectual destination, with scholars and campuses spanning multiple regions.

Within UChicago, the Oriental Institute supports research and preservation efforts and works with a large volume of visual materials generated through fieldwork, scholarship, and documentation.

Before Daminion, the Oriental Institute attempted to build a media database using an in-house solution. In practice, the system depended heavily on network speed between continents, which made it slow and difficult to use. It also proved too technical for non-specialists, limiting adoption across the team.

Cataloging in the old system required detailed manual descriptions for each file, and the team couldn’t easily set up roles or manage collaborative work on shared assets.

The Oriental Institute needed a unified database that could be accessed by team members working in different locations around the world. Daminion gave them a practical way to catalog and search images in an online, collaborative environment — without requiring staff to become “librarians” to use the system effectively.

Today, the team uses Daminion regularly to upload, categorize, and retrieve media from research projects quickly and reliably.