Museums and Digital Archives: A Qualitative Study of Vertebrate Collections

Abstract

The museums we know of today had their start from both an interest in collecting cultural items for entertainment, as well as to use as educational tools. Since then, it has morphed into a varied stewardship of researching prehistoric specimens, protecting humanity’s commonwealth, and preserving such items for future generations. In the modern age, this includes digital aspects of museology that have become increasingly necessary among institutions to properly maintain their public trust and relevancy through collaborative research, educating their audiences, and interactions with benefactors. Digitizing paleontological collections is a growing element within an institution’s stewardship of responsibility towards both their local patrons and the global community. However, there are challenges that must be addressed and resolved while integrating this aspect of preservation into a museum’s archival practices. Digitization is a relatively new integration, and thus there is no shared baseline of ethics, laws, or best practices surrounding actions or procedures that are shared across other areas in the field of museology. This qualitative study explores the current best practices of museums regarding digitization- how they utilize technology, tools and resources to enhance their digital archives, as well as evaluate the long-term strategies they currently implement. The impact of this thesis is to add evidence of how the digitization of specimens has been integrated into the field for the past few decades and to highlight its growing vitalization in the modern world of global interconnection. The survey responses are aligned through themes to better highlight what common advantages and disadvantages that museums must navigate when incorporating digitization into their daily responsibilities.