Digital reproduction of analogue collections

Theme: Supply
Indicator: Necessity to reproduce analogue heritage collections in digital format (per object type)
Reference date: 31/08/2017 (Enumerate Core Survey 4)
Monitoring frequency: biennial
Institution types: museums, libraries, archives, other
Geographical scope: Europe

Page 3 of 7 below refers to this indicator.

This indicator focuses on the need to digitise that part of the analogue collections of an institution that have not been digitally reproduced yet, expressed as a percentage of the full analogue collections. The assumption is here that an institution may assess certain parts of the analogue collections as less necessary to be digitised. Of course this assessment may change over time.

On average, 16% of heritage collections are digitised. About 40% still need to be digitised. Please note that these are not weighted figures. Institutions with small collections count as having the same in weight as institutions with large collections. This is one of the reasons why the actual percentage of the digitisation level for all cultural heritage in Europe will most likely be smaller. The exact European heritage digitisation percentage cannot be calculated based on the current information, however. The medians probably provide a more realistic indication than the averages.

Over the period of the Core Surveys (2012-2015) the percentage that has been digitised is about the same (20%). The percentage to be digitised has gone down from 57% to 50%. This might reflect progress in digitisation, but with a growth of collections, especially those that do not need to be digitised.

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If you have a question about this indicator or the data analysis in general, please contact us. We are continuously trying to improve our data. If you have any other data or research available that complements or contradicts our data, please let us know. You can write an email to Stephanie Teunisse, stephanie.teunisse[at]den.nl.