OLIVIA Cataloging System

OLIVIA is a centrally-supported cataloging system for visual materials, designed to supply data to the VIA union catalog. The system also provides some basic collection management tools, although it has not been fully developed to support collection management. A history of OLIVIA development is available.

OLIVIA is a client/server application that supports Windows and Macintosh access. Harvard repositories can download and install the OLIVIA client, or contact OIS to arrange installation. Note that you may have to make arrangements with your IT department in order to install software on your machine. OLIVIA image handling requires full installation of QuickTime (the latest version is fine).

OLIVIA for Windows (NT/2000/XP): Client | Instructions
OLIVIA for Mac (PowerPC or Intel OS X): Client | Instructions
Apple Quicktime application: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

In addition to the desktop client, access to OLIVIA requires a valid login name and password. Consult the User Accounts page for more about requesting an OLIVIA login.

Participating in OLIVIA

Collections represented in OLIVIA today include the Fine Arts Library Visual Collections, Loeb Library Visual Resources Department, Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard-Yenching Library and more. Over 20 repositories are now represented in OLIVIA and more repositories are signing on. Consult the OLIVIA Liaisons List for a list of participating repositories.

OLIVIA is available to any Harvard repository that wants to contribute image cataloging to VIA. See How to Participate for more information.