New Report: “An Innovation Study: Challenges and Opportunities for Australia’s Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums”

From Australia’s CSIRO:

Released today by CSIRO, an analysis of Australia’s galleries, libraries, archives and museums (or GLAM industry) has revealed that digital innovation in the sector is inconsistent and isolated. The report provides a roadmap for the industry in order for it to maximise the potential of the digital economy.
With Australia’s rapid uptake of online and mobile platforms, people are now choosing to access and share information in very different ways.
According to Dr Michael Bruenig, Acting Director of CSIRO’s Digital Productivity Flagship, many of Australia’s cultural institutions have not kept pace with this change.
“The report identified that only a few organisations have made fundamental changes to their operations that would allow them to place digital services at their core, rather than as an ‘add-on’ activity,” he said.
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The report outlines several recommendations that would allow the GLAM industry to take full advantage of digital technology. These include:

• shifting to open access models and greater collaboration with the public
• exploring new approaches to copyright management that stimulates creativity and supports creators
• sharing skills, standards and approaches to digitisation building on aggregation initiatives like Trove and the Atlas of Living Australia
• standardising preservation of ‘born digital’ material to avoid losing access to digital heritage
• sharing capability, storage and networks between organisations in the sector, exploiting the potential of AARNet and the NBN for collection and collaboration.

According to Dr Bruenig, by adopting these recommendations and building on some innovative examples in the sector, Australia’s GLAM industry will be in a position to embrace digital, rather than be engulfed by it.

Read the Complete News Release
Direct to Executive Summary (9 pages; PDF)
Direct to Full Text Report: An Innovation Study: Challenges and Opportunities for Australia’s Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museum (96 pages; PDF)
See Also: GLAM Innovation Study Reading Material

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Libraries, Management and Leadership, News, Open Access, Preservation, Productivity