Digital and Accessible, but how? A Workshop Report

By Anna Gnyp, Stephanie Götsch and Chiara Marchini, Christian Gries

Why is it worthwhile for museums to present their objects online? What are the prerequisites and work steps connected with this? In addition to the online catalogues, what platforms come into consideration for this?

To discuss these issues, the  Fachstelle Museum (Specialist Department Museum) of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB – German Digital Library) , together with the Landesmuseum Württemberg (Wuerttemberg State Museum) as the virtual host and the cooperation partners Landesstelle für Museumsbetreuung  (State Office for Museum Support) and the Museumsverband Baden-Württemberg  (Museum Association of Baden-Wuerttemberg) and the MusIS-Team at the Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Wuerttemberg (Library Service Centre Baden Wuerttemberg), invited the museums from the federal state to a two-day online workshop on 21st and 22nd June 2021. In the first quarter of 2021, a good 60 out of the approx. 1300 museums in Baden-Wuerttemberg were registered with the DDB cultural portal, whereby only seven of them have published their collection objects in the DDB portal to date. Obviously, there was a need to bring the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and its offerings for museums closer to the local institutions.

The  Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek , financed by the Federal Government and the States, has set itself the objective to be the national access portal for culture and knowledge in Germany, as Chiara Marchini (DDB) explained in her presentation . Furthermore, the DDB collects data on cultural objects and shares these with the European cultural portal  Europeana . Today, there are 37 million objects from collecting institutions of all cultural sectors which are searchable here. In addition to the DDB’s presentation and its free offerings, the objective of the workshop was to make the experiences of the local museums visible with regard to the online publication of their collection objects and thus to encourage a productive exchange.

Responsibility for the digital output

To the same extent that museums open themselves to digitisation, they must also assume responsibility for the resulting digital output, declared Christian Gries (Landesmuseum Württemberg) in his  presentation . Today, this means not only dealing sustainably with datasets of the digital inventory for one’s own work, but also developing concepts of an individual e-culture and dimensions of a digital visibility, respectively effectiveness outside of the classic walls of the museum.

Currently, the analysis, assessment and control of the corresponding processes are sometimes formulated in integrated strategies (example:  Digital Strategy of the Salzburg Museums), in the establishment of new fields of activity for a “digital museum practice” and in projects like “LAZARMUS: Langzeitarchivierung von Museumsdaten” (“Long-term Archiving of Museum Data”). Sustainable and strategic data management marks a central complex in this field of activity, which should not only operate on the basis of the FAIR principles ,respectively according to a data management plan , and which requires a continuous focus regarding digital users, respectively visitors. Furthermore, interfaces and partnerships with external players, infrastructures, respectively cultural and specialist portals are needed in the efforts to link the data.

The use of the software imdas pro , respectively the accompanying distribution via the MusIS-Team at the BSZ  has established a state-wide museum documentation system in Baden-Wuerttemberg, which is used by more than 600 users. The Landesstelle für Museumsbetreuung assumes similar responsibility with PRIMUS, which has opened up an important path for the approx. 200 non-state museums, collections and museum institutions for their digital inventory since 2001, as Christoph Pitzen (Landesstelle für Museumsbetreuung Baden-Württemberg) described in his presentation . Here again, the process is not only accompanied by its own software, but is also promoted by a series of further training on the “basic knowledge of museums work” and ongoing support. In 2013, the Museumsverband Baden-Württemberg launched the project Museales Kulturerbe BW digital  (Museum Cultural Heritage BW Digital) in cooperation with museum-digital , as Martina Meyr (Städtische Museen Rottweil – City Museums of Rottweil and Museumsverband Baden-Württemberg – Museum Association of Baden-Wuerttemberg) reported in her presentation . From its beginnings with 20 institutions, the participation in the platform has increased to more than 140 museums today. Guidelines communicated in the project were: begin with the collection’s highlights; think about which data are suitable for internal use and which for publication; create descriptive texts and high-quality photographs of the objects. In future, the Museumsverband would like to see an even greater online presence of the Baden-Wuerttemberg museums and their objects and focuses on cooperation here.

Building up online collections, linking object data

Digital catalogues are windows into the museum collections. They serve to provide transparency and as a starting point for spreading them on the net. This can lead to a  higher awareness of the museum and to increased linking . But building up an online collection needs to be well thought out. Jochen Dietel (Städtische Museen Freiburg – City Museums of Freiburg, presentation) and Andrea Hess (Freiburger Münsterbauverein – Association for the Renovation of the Freiburg Minster, presentation) gave insights into this process and shared their experiences and tips. Thus, one of the challenges here is to give a good representation of the diversity of the collection. Furthermore, the copyright and usage rights as well as the handling of “sensitive” objects (e, g, from colonial contexts) must be clarified in advance. Last but not least, target groups should be determined in order to adapt, for example, research possibilities and educational offerings to their needs.

The MusIS group of the Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Württemberg offers museums all necessary services from a single source, from database software and administration up to online presentation and to data export (e.g. for the DDB). Werner Schweibenz and Jens Lill (MusIS/BSZ) drew attention in their presentations to the fact that the use of  authority files is becoming ever more important. The largest collection of authority files for cultural and research data in the German-speaking area is the Gemeinsame Normdatei (GND – Integrated Authority File). The input of identifiers is facilitated by means of a GND-interface in the object database imdas pro. In addition to this, the GND Agency LEO-BW-Regional should develop this service further in future and thus improve the quality of the metadata.

Virtual exhibitions in the DDB

Virtual exhibitions have a long tradition in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek.

Lidia Westermann (DDB) presented the exhibition tool DDBstudio in her talk, a free service of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek with which curators can design virtual exhibitions. The editing interface was designed in such a way that curators can use the software without prior technical knowledge or training courses.

It is not only the closures of the museums due to the pandemic which give a reason for extending exhibition activity into the virtual space. Works can frequently only be exhibited for a limited period or not at all for conservational reasons. In spite of this, virtual object presentation offers the possibility to make such holdings accessible

This was also the wish behind the exhibition Steppenwolf und Malerfreund. Gunter Böhmer illustriert Hermann Hesse  (Steppenwolf and Artist Friend. Gunter Böhmer illustrates Hermann Hesse) of the Hermann Hesse Museum in Calw, which was curated with DDBstudio. In her presentation , the Deputy Director Ute Lilly Mohnberg gave valuable insights into how she approached this virtual exhibition project. In the implementation it was a matter, above all, of making holdings accessible at a low level and to a wide public. A physical exhibition even emerged from the virtual exhibition, a very successful example of how virtual and physical exhibition space can complement each other.

Legal aspects of digital offerings

Paul Klimpel (irightsLaw) explained that in using digital copies, a distinction must be made first of all between “copyright” and “usage rights”. Copyright arises with the creation of a work. If someone wishes to use the work, the creator may grant usage rights to this person, e.g. for it to be published online or copied. Even when the museum is the owner of a work, the copyrights can thus lie elsewhere. It is therefore essential to clarify the chain of rights without any gaps before digital copies are published. In certain cases there are  exceptions and limiting provisions which make it possible for a work to be used, even without rights clearance. These limits, however, do not apply in principle for making things accessible to the public. Thus, exhibition rights do not apply to online exhibitions.

If a museum is the rights holder of its works, it can share these itself. The  licence system “Creative Commons” provides the framework for the sharing options. This has gained international acceptance and is human- and machine-readable.  In the DDB , data partners must consistently quote a CC licence or a rights reference. In this way, licensed works can be used free of charge, but only within the scope of the licence conditions.

DDB and Europeana: offerings for culture and education and prerequisites for participation

The DDB has received funds from the Federal Government’s Corona Rescue and Future Programme NEUSTART KULTUR  for the project “Nutzerorientierte Neustrukturierung der Deutschen Digitalen Bibliothek” (“User-oriented restructuring of the German Digital Library”).

In the course of the project, the DDB should, on the one hand, improve the user experience on its own portal and tailor it to the different target groups. On the other hand, the DDB has used some of the funds to support institutions registered in the portal in the implementation of their own digitisation projects. In her presentation , Katja Hesch (DDB) informed us that  just under 60 institutions have received funding, including five museums from Baden-Wuerttemberg.

For some years now, the European cultural portal Europeana  has been developing target group-specific offerings, in particular in the area of education. Thus, Europeana has built up numerous cooperations to make digitised content from the collections of cultural heritage institutions usable for teaching in schools. In her°presentation , Cosmina Berta (DDB and Europeana Members Council) also reported on the °platform Historiana, which makes materials and tools available for history lessons.

A prerequisite for re-use is that museums and other cultural heritage institutions must attach licences or rights references to their content, which clearly describe the type of usage allowed. To publish their objects in the DDB, data partners can draw on awards from the DDB licence basket . Sophie Rölle (DDB) explained the prerequisites for participation in her presentation. To become a data partner of the DDB, museums have to register in the portal and sign a  cooperation agreement . This gives the DDB the usage rights on the object information and digital copies and also clarifies whether the data can be shared with Europeana.

Data delivery to the DDB

Participation in online portals like the DDB is advisable for museums when the objects of their own collections should be linked in an interdisciplinary way with the objects of other institutions. With the aid of authority files, objects are linked, made easier to find and appear in quite new contexts. Stephanie Götsch (DDB) made it clear in her  presentation  how the Fachstelle Museum can advise and support museums in publishing their object information in the DDB portal.

The export function is crucial so that the data from a local database can be shared on online platforms. The export from the database can be undertaken by the in-house IT, depending on the resources available. Moreover, cooperation with so-called aggregators is advisable, especially when the resources in one’s own company do not allow eternal commissioning. An aggregator is a service which collects metadata from cultural and knowledge institutions, then standardises, administers, holds and shares them. In addition to software for inventory purposes, aggregators offer the possibility to present one’s own collection online. Having an online presentation is a prerequisite for participation in the DDB, so that linking back from the DDB object page to the object page of the data-providing institution is guaranteed.

With the aid of the LIDO exchange format, the many different pieces of information on the objects can be brought into a structure which allows the information to be displayed optimally in the DDB portal and makes it locatable via an indexed search. Information on the requirements for the data delivered as well as the mandatory elements in the data delivery can be found in DDB-Wiki .

Digitisation for everyone through more exchange and linking

A survey conducted among the participants at the beginning of the workshop found that digital registration of the collection objects was already commonplace in most institutions. The majority of those present was also planning a cooperation with digital platforms to make their own object data available online for re-use.

In a further survey towards the end of the workshop, the participants declared which were the most important issues that they would take back with them from the meeting. The concepts of linking, funding and authority files were at the top of the list.

The exchange in the workshop made it clear that it makes sense to work together with several portals, since each portal reaches its own user group and in this way the range can be extended.

It is especially smaller museums that often have difficulties in financing digitisation. Financial support – whether at state level or perhaps through the  DFG  (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – German Research Foundation) – is often a prerequisite here. In turn, institutions such as the DDB and the Landesstelle für Museumsbetreuung offer support in the form of knowledge transfer to enable museums to make their collections digitally accessible and to be able to publish them online in accordance with applicable standards. The use of authority files supplements these publication standards and forms the basis for digital linking.

All in all, the surveys and the active participation have shown how important linking and exchange is between the museums themselves as well as with digital partners, in order to raise awareness for the use of digital offerings, to communicate know-how and to propose solutions.

Sources:

For the number of museums in Baden-Wuerttemberg see https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/ifmzm/issue/view/5496/1014 (p. 55) and https://netmuseum.de/

Picture credits for cover picture

Bildnachweise-DDB-Panorama_PDF

This article was originally published on the blog of the Württemberg State Museum.