Digital Collections Audit and audiences

Digital Collections Audit was conducted within the Towards a National Collection initiative in the UK, examining 264 cultural heritage institutions and their digital collections’ number, scale, and attributes. The audit took place between September 2021 and the end of January 2022 by the Collections Trust. The research included conversations with staff, technical information and data-sharing initiatives with larger institutions and smaller museums and archives.

The technical survey covered types and formats of digital resources; Metadata created and standards; Asset management, including systems, scope, and service models; Digital assets management and diffusion to researchers and the public; Access and availability of digital resources; Rights management concerning licences and usage rights.

The document pinpoints key themes and offers recommendations.

Furthermore, Towards a National Collection organises on May 24 2022, the free webinar “Who is the Audience for a ‘Virtual National Collection’?” supported by the collected data, will discuss the private sector, research software engineers and international users’ needs and virtual heritage engagement.

Our take

The UK cultural heritage sector was one of the quickest to adopt digital technologies and make available new virtual experiences to audiences, especially during the pandemic. The audit portrays an in-depth outlook of the sector’s developments and needs, which is helpful for cultural institutions interested in pursuing the digitisation of their collections.

I want to learn more:

Digital Collections Audit by Gosling, Kevin; McKenna, Gordon; Cooper, Adrian

Comment on our patreon page