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In this webinar, we explored how digital technologies are transforming how communities access and interact with historical archives, with NSLA libraries leading important innovations in this area.
The discussion focused on the online cultural heritage platforms Trove (National Library of Australia), DigitalPasifik, and DigitalNZ (National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa). These platforms provide single access points for individuals, communities, and researchers from any location to access a vast array of digitised archival content. What sets these platforms apart is not just the extensive number of source repositories they provide access to, which collectively house over 14 billion digital items, but their continuous technical evolution.
The webinar highlighted one important technical advancement: empowering communities to undertake community-driven curation of the collections. This includes new platform features that now enable communities to contribute their knowledge and memories to archival records, correct inaccurate information, and curate items from different collections to tell new personal stories through these archives. This process facilitates the creation of new shared histories, helping to build stronger community ownership of these collections, and foster a more inclusive and diverse understanding of the histories of Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands.
Thank you to everyone who joined us and participated in the discussion on how these cultural heritage platforms are reimagining community connections to cultural heritage. For those who couldn’t attend or would like to revisit the discussion, a recording of the webinar is available below.
Members of National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) acknowledge the Traditional Custodians and Kaitiaki of the lands on which
our libraries do their daily work, preserving and sharing our collective cultural heritage.
