Digital Archives in Museums: Exploring the Current Status of Digitization and Online Release of Collections

Abstract

Even after the 2022 revision of the Museum Act, which explicitly recognized the digitization of collections as a fundamental museum activity, many institutions still struggle to implement these initiatives due to financial and human resource constraints. To address these challenges, the Japan Society for Digital Archive organized a series of symposia titled "The Current State of Museum Digital Archives" to highlight ongoing issues and facilitate the exchange of practical knowledge. This article reviews the primary discussions from these events and introduces the seven papers included in this special feature, thereby serving as a comprehensive introduction to the topic.