Memory of the Netherlands: A Programmatic Approach to the Digitisation of Cultural-Historical Resources in the Netherlands

Memory of the Netherlands is the a large-scale digitisation programme carried out by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the national Library of the Netherlands. It represents a new point of view on digitisation of heritage collections: The scope of the programme is to digitise as many objects as possible in a relatively short period (3 years). The programme is based on the following starting points: good quality images (sufficient for access on the internet for a general public), reduced costs, adherence to strict regulations and standards, little effort spent on selection, and no development of contextual material. In most projects thus far, only relatively small amounts of digitised materials were produced. Most of the money was spent on technical issues and the development of contextual material. Lack of co-operation resulted in money being wasted on re-inventing the same solutions. In many cases the digital objects could not be re-used in other applications after the project's end. In the Memory programme we strive to avoid these pitfalls. The programme is based on co-operation between institutions in the various cultural heritage domains: museums, archives, libraries, archaeological institutions and organisations dedicated to the conservation of monuments and historical buildings. The digitised materials, representing various media types (still images, video, audio, and text), and owned by the various institutions will be presented together. Thus optimal use is made of the place independent possibilities of the Internet. Cross-searching in a specific but fairly extensive domain as the cultural heritage should provide new opportunities for entertainment, research or just satisfying one's curiosity. The storage of images and metadata is scalable. By realising this programme, KB does not only build a large digital collection, but also a stable, robust and scalable infrastructure for future digitisation projects.