Research Guides: Digital Exhibits in Omeka: Introduction

About Omeka

Omeka is an online content management system that enables you to create dynamic online exhibits that showcase collections of digital images, text, and other multi-media formats in one seamless site.

There are three versions of Omeka, each slightly differing in functionality and purpose. This guide is focused on getting started with Omeka.net which is supported by UMKC Libraries Digital Scholarship Services for UMKC faculty, staff, and student use.

Teachers

For more information on integrating digital projects into your classes, visit our Digital Pedagogy guide.

Omeka's User Guide provides detailed information about using Omeka.net collections, exhibits, and pages.

UMKC IS Software Policies

Before integrating any software or content management system into a course, including free software, faculty should complete an IS Software Purchase request to assess security and FERPA compliance. This is the responsibility of the instructor of record on the course. Libraries faculty and staff will not do this on behalf of teaching faculty.

Omeka.net
We recommend Omeka.net for most classroom uses and for individual faculty or student projects. You can build an Omeka website hosted for free on the Omeka.net servers. Omeka.net works well for classroom instruction, allowing students to work collaboratively on one site. Contact Digital Scholarship Services to get started on a site for your project or class.
Omeka S
Omeka S is the enterprise version of Omeka designed for universities, galleries, libraries, archives and museums.
Omeka Classic
Best for those who run an independent website on their own servers or through a hosting service like Reclaim, Omeka Classic offers a full installation of Omeka on your own website with software available online for free. You may be responsible for hosting costs; UM System IS does not currently support hosting for Omeka Classic.

Create UMKC is a web hosting service from Digital Scholarship Services to support faculty research projects. Omeka Classic and Omeka S are supported on Create UMKC.

Example Omeka Exhibits

Omeka.net, the web-based version:

Suffragette Stories
Suffragette Stories features over 100 items related to women’s suffrage. The site uses Omeka’s exhibits to combine these items with narrative—both creative and non-fiction.
EMDRIA Francine Shapiro Library
The Francine Shapiro Library uses Omeka to build a vast collection of scholarly resources on the Adaptive Information Processing Model (AIP) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. Its effective use of collections and tag sets make the library easy to navigate.

Omeka Classic:

The Story of the Beautiful: Freer, Whistler, & Their Points of Contact
The Story of the Beautiful provides virtual tours of James Whistler's peacock room while providing historical context. The site is organized using simple pages and tags.
Wearing Gay History
Wearing Gay History is home to a digitized collection of t-shirts from several LGBTQ archives across the United States. The t-shirts span several decades and can be explored thematically and by archival collection.

Digital Exhibits in Omeka: Introduction

About Omeka

Teachers

UMKC IS Software Policies

Example Omeka Exhibits

Miller Nichols Library

Giving to the Libraries