The management of iconographic resources is a strategic issue for the Communications Department of theUniversité de Franche-Comté, which has high-quality photographs for internal and external use. Keepeek was called in to set up a photo library capable of handling the massive production of their communication content.
In an interview, Ludovic Godard, a photographer attached to the University's communications department, explained how important it is for their university to have a high-performance image bank adapted to their environment.
How was your image bank managed before you integrated Keepeek?
When I arrived in 2009, I was asked to organize the image bank at the Université de Franche Comté. All our data was stored on a standard server to which we had network access. To feed us with the metadata of our images, we also used Picasa software, which was installed on each workstation, but was unfortunately rather limited. We were obliged to duplicate data for different user targets (departments, faculties, laboratories) and to deliver reports via a bulky file transfer system.
What were your selection criteria for the Digital Asset Management solution you were looking for?
We needed a solution that could integrate the tree structure that had been established by my predecessor, which was very complex. Keepeek was the only vendor able to do this. We also wanted the solution to be easy to use and intuitive, and Keepeek was able to satisfy us on these criteria.
How did the integration of the Keepeek photo library go?
We started this integration project in 2012 and the tool is working really well today. It meets all our expectations. The integration was carried out by the Keepeek teams, in collaboration with our university's IT department. We were particularly pleased with Keepeek's ability to integrate with our centralized "CAS" authentication system, which was a key requirement of our IT department. This objective was achieved with flying colors.
How do you use the Keepeek photo library?
Photo library users upload images to the database and organize them into folders. We currently have 103,000 media referenced in the Keepeek DAM tool: corporate illustrations, images of buildings, students, laboratory research, etc. We chose to use the Keepeek tool solely for photography, and to use other platforms to host videos, for example. Our aim was to leverage the full power of a space dedicated to photography.
Who are the main users?
The entire communications department has access to the photo library. What's really interesting about the Keepeek solution is that all the communication professions (press relations, internal communication, graphic design, etc.) can use the tool. You can feel that the solution has been designed with this in mind. Our aim is also to make it available to the entire university community. We have opened up the photo library to other branches of the University so that they can upload their images. This is notably the case for our largest engineering research laboratory in France, FEMTO-ST, whose image bank has migrated to Keepeek.
What satisfactions have you drawn from this project?
The tool was really easy for all our staff to get to grips with, especially as there isn't just one way of doing things, but several. This clearly proves its intuitive nature. I also appreciated the responsiveness of the support team. It's a quality that deserves to be highlighted, as it's not the case with everyone. Finally, I find the team very responsive. I recently had a telephone conversation with a Keepeek employee who simply wanted to check that the software was running smoothly.
