International comparators: How does Australia compare internationally?

Executive summary This report, produced by Dr Katherine Howard and commissioned by the GLAM Peak Bodies, is based on desk research carried out over the period of April to June 2017. Dr Howard was asked to investigate national strategies for digital access to collections in other parts of the world, identify themes within them, and provide recommendations as to how they might inform digital access strategies at the state, territory and federal level in Australia. It is part of the first stage of the Catalyst-funded Digital Access to Collections project 2016-2017. Key findings Strategies analysed came from Europe (28 in total), Canada and New Zealand. Surprisingly, there was little variation identified in the strategies from Europe. The Canadian and New Zealand strategies, although being of a later date than the European ones, also did not provide much variation. The key findings also form the basis of the recommendations. The key findings are: ○ National strategies for digitisation and preservation are created in response to cultural policies set by Ministers of Culture ○ Use of a Secretariat ○ Competence Centres ○ Preservation of digital materials as a high priority ○ The existence (or development) of a national register of digitisation projects ○ Developing Public-private partnerships (PPPs) for funding