The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) welcomes the Science Museum Group, as they become the newest Associate Member of the Coalition this month.
With five museums around the UK, the Science Museum Group consists of the Science Museum in London, National Railway Museum in York, National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, Locomotion in County Durham and the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. Over several decades, the Group’s digitization programme has built up significant digital collections and the museums are increasingly having to manage born-digital content, both internally generated and acquired content.
The Science Museum Group is also part way through an ambitious five-year project which will give the public unprecedented digital (and physical) access to its internationally significant collection. Rapid digitization of the Science Museum Group Collection will create one of the most extensive online scientific collections in the world, which can already be explored through online tools and long-form stories.
“We recognise that digital preservation is business critical and we are committed to implementing best practice for managing our collection and other digital assets,” explains Jack Kirby, Group Head of Collections Services for the Science Museum Group.
“As museums are increasingly generating and acquiring more digital content, digital preservation has become business critical for collections management and the Science Museum Group is excited to join DPC colleagues in a shared mission to drive improvements in digital preservation, particularly in the heritage sector.”
Chair of the DPC Board and Head of Data Division for STFC, Juan Bicarregui was delighted by the Science Museum Group’s proactive approach and commitment to the ongoing challenge of digital preservation, saying:
“With the museums sector turning to digital as a means to offer dynamic and new, exciting ways of engaging people with collections, urgent questions arise about how we manage and preserve all the digital content created. We are very pleased the Science Museum Group have joined others from the sector as members of the DPC and we look forward to the perspective they will bring as we collaborate in developing digital preservation capability and capacity.”
The not-for-profit DPC is an international advocate for digital preservation, helping members around the world to deliver resilient long-term access to digital content and services through community engagement, targeted advocacy work, training and workforce development, capacity building, good practice and standards, and through good management and governance. Its vision is a secure digital legacy.
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