Summer vacation is just around the corner, the perfect time to dig out the beach gear and enjoy some fresh air. It's also the ideal moment for us to share updates about what's been happening at Double Dig IT. After a well-deserved break, you might want to evaluate which of our products or services can benefit your museum, library, or archive.

Collection Manager
Our flagship: born from our product Collection Publisher, the Double Dig IT Collection Manager was created. Collection Manager is a fully open-source collection management system compatible with Adlib and Axiell Collections.
It can run independently or alongside third-party products.
Over the past six months, we’ve expanded its functionality significantly. Below, we highlight a few features we believe are true game-changers.

Universal Sharing Panel
All output options in our system are now combined in a single, streamlined interface called the “sharing panel.” Whether you want to export to PDF, Microsoft Word, or Excel, it’s all possible here.
You can select a single record or multiple records as input, and export results to print, save, or email. The panel is accessible everywhere with just one button.

Python as Scripting Language
Having a built-in scripting language in a collection management system is a powerful feature: it allows you to implement functionality the developer may not have anticipated or to handle specific use cases for individual clients.
By integrating a scripting language at key “hooks” in the software, users can tailor the system to their needs. Adlib and Axiell Collections users typically use Adapl for this.
At Double Dig IT, we’ve chosen Python instead. The system supports scripts like Before Storage and Before/After Field Snakes: small (or large) snippets of Python code.
Python was the logical choice: it’s the most widely used programming language in the world, open source, and taught globally.

Python for Adlib and Axiell Collections
Our base software library (DDLib) also works with Adlib and Axiell Collections. This means you can create Python scripts to query, retrieve, and even modify Adlib data. You can even automate application changes. All application properties are now accessible through Python.
Previously, we did this with PowerShell and gave an introductory course (at the RKD) last year. We're considering offering the same for Python this year. Given Python’s much greater popularity, we expect high demand.
If you're interested in attending, or hosting, this course, let us know.

New DDigit IIIF Server
We’ve developed a new IIIF server in C#, used in both Collection Publisher and Collection Manager. It supports the IIIF Image and Presentation APIs and generates IIIF manifests.
The server is extremely fast and can be used with or without Collection Publisher and Collection Manager, and even alongside Axiell products.
To display high-resolution (TIFF) images, we integrated the OpenSeadragon library into both products, allowing images over 1GB to be displayed without issues.

AI in the Collection Management System
We're working on three AI-related developments:

• Visual search for similar images, available in combination with DataMachine indexing
• Automatic translation of title and description fields
• Automatic keyword generation from descriptive text

We use OLLAMA together with a variety of AI models, including Chat-GPT and Azure AI. We prefer OLLAMA because it can run models locally on your own hardware rather than relying on third-party services.

New and Completed Projects

• Collection management system for the Utrecht University Museum
• New public interface for the Jewish Cultural Quarter
• New public interface for the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam
• Replacement of Axiell Collections with Collection Manager at the Scottish Yacht Archive
• Replacement of Maritime Digitaal with Collection Publisher
• Implementation of Collection Manager at the Airborne Museum
• Consultancy for the Kunstmuseum The Hague
• Consultancy for the RKD

Finally: Collection Mobile
Collection Publisher and Collection Manager are fully responsive and already work well on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. A great example was described by Suzanne Rijke from the Airborne Museum: https://www.ddigit.nl/news#collection-publisher-bij-het-airborne-museum-hartenstein

Still, we’ve also started developing a mobile app that integrates with both Collection Publisher and Collection Manager. This app will be used for specialized tasks like object movements, inventory, and condition reporting.
The advantage is that it can make use of device hardware, such as the camera, to take new photos, scan barcodes or QR codes, or add visual annotations.
Three museums have already agreed to collaborate with us on this, and we're open to more participants. If you're interested, let us know.
The app is planned for release by the end of 2025 on both iOS and Android.

The Airborne Museum was closed for two days last week for a thorough cleaning of the permanent exhibition. All objects were removed from the display cases, cleaned, and those that had not yet been photographed were professionally captured. Everyone was busy in the exhibition hall, making it especially convenient to have our collection data readily available on our phones using the software from Double Dig IT ( Bert Degenhart Drenth and Daan Kuijper). We are still in the testing phase of the system, but all data and images are already accessible. This allowed us to quickly check object locations and enabled the photographer to prepare based on a previously taken object photo.

The most exciting part of working closely with the collection is discovering surprises. In the permanent exhibition, the story of the Oosterbeek doctor, Dr. Gerrit van Maanen, is told, partly through an overpainted Dutch combat helmet. The original green color had been replaced with white, featuring a red cross on top. Once removed from the display case and cleaned, we noticed an inscription written in pen on the leather interior: “KAPITEIN Mr. DOORNBOS.” Using the Double Dig IT software, we could immediately check on-site whether this inscription had been previously noted and recorded in the object file. Surprisingly, it had not!

It is likely that this Captain Mr. Doornbos was the original wearer of the helmet. After some research in digitized officer records, it turned out to be Joan Willem Ubbo Doornbos (1896-1976). Until May 1940, he was a reserve captain in the Royal Netherlands Army. In February 1940, he was appointed president of the Court Martial in Utrecht. During the war, Doornbos served as deputy district judge, lawyer, and prosecutor in Arnhem. Both men belonged to the upper circles of Arnhem and its surroundings and may have known each other. At some point during the war, the helmet was passed on to Dr. Van Maanen and repainted. Van Maanen himself served as a reserve directing medical officer 3rd class until the capitulation, with twenty years of service to his name. Had he lost his own helmet during the war? During the Battle of Arnhem, he was at least able to make good use of Mr. Doornbos' repainted helmet while working at the emergency hospital in Hotel de Tafelberg.

Not only are the display cases and objects in the museum now in pristine condition again, but these days have also resulted in an enriched understanding of a collection piece!

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