Chair’s reflection
This report, looking strategically at digitisation at a national level, was originally completed in the first few months of 2020, just before the COVID pandemic and first lockdowns. As priorities shifted to meet this new context, the publication of the report was put into abeyance. However, in late 2022, the group met again and decided that many of the issues identified in the report remain vitally relevant and that the report still has value.
Some things have moved on, showing that the report came from a moment in time. For example, The Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Towards a National Collection programme now represents a ‘major investment using digital technology to create a unified national collection of the UK’s museums, libraries, galleries and archives to maintain global leadership in digital humanities and arts research’, which very much speaks to the issues discussed in the report.
But in fact, the rapid and sustained shift to online access during the pandemic has only emphasised as never before the importance of digitisation and digital access to collections. For example, statistics show that online use of many collections increased exponentially during the period of the pandemic and has remained high. There has been a significant increase in international usage.
One issue that has risen up the agenda since the original report was written is shared heritage. Though this is not the place for an in-depth discussion, the Network is aware that digitisation can also play an important role in sharing heritage, particularly internationally, and that this aspect of digitisation also deserves attention. Other issues such as sustainability are of increasing importance and urgency to the sector and to society.
Though the group was initially a time-limited taskforce, members decided to continue and the Collections Digitisation Network now exists in its own right to champion this work and to be a forum for open discussion, collaboration and action around digitisation and digital skills.
Digitisation is a complex issue but is absolutely central to facilitating access to collections and a vital part of research infrastructure. There is a long way to go before the potential we talk about is fully realised, so we therefore present the report as a contribution to continuing action towards ‘Releasing the Potential’ held in the UK’s extraordinary and uniquely important collections.
Executive summary
This report describes the work and findings of the Digitisation Taskforce, which formed in response to the Culture is Digital project and its report published in June 2019.
Digitisation has the potential to be extraordinarily transformative, to be the means by which cultural content can be unlocked and made newly accessible. It makes new and surprising content available for new audiences and new uses, preserves some aspects of the original, in the event of its loss and creates data so that cultural content can be re-surfaced and reused in exciting and innovative ways by present and future generations.
Digitisation can enable the linking of collections so that as a whole they are more than the sum of their parts, either as a research infrastructure or for telling bigger stories in a wider context. In addition, authentic digitised collections can play a crucial role in combating misinformation and prompting trusted data and trusted sources. The potential is enormous, and there is therefore an urgent national, societal imperative towards better and greater digitisation. The UK has an opportunity to lead internationally in this space.
In March 2018, the Unleashing the creative potential of technology report was released, recognising that the UK holds some of the world’s most significant collections, and the power of digitisation to unlock these, expand the reach of the UK’s cultural assets and enable collections to be more than the sum of their parts. The report included a commitment that “The National Archives will work with culture and heritage sector representatives to develop a new strategic approach to the digitisation and presentation of cultural objects, for example, looking at the common standards needed to make our nation’s great cultural assets more interoperable, discoverable and sustainable. ”
A Digitisation Taskforce was set up for this strategic review, led by The National Archives, with membership from Arts Council England (ACE), BBC, British Film Institute (BFI), British Library, Collections Trust, Culture24, National Lottery Heritage Fund (the Heritage Fund), Jisc, Natural History Museum, Oxford University, Tate and the Wellcome Collection.
The Taskforce explored the resources currently available around the digitisation of collections, and surveyed a wide range of museums, libraries, galleries and archives to understand the opportunities and barriers. Its key findings and recommendations are summarised in this report whose publication has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Case studies were prepared at the time, and these have been included to provide examples for the six key themes. While standards are a focus of the commitment above, in practice it was other barriers that seem to pose a greater risk to realising the benefits of digitisation and joining up cultural collections. With that in mind, nine priority areas supported by a network-centred approach are recommended.