New Digital Asset Management System at the Museum of Natural History

This represents a significant achievement for the museum, the GLAM community, and IT Services, marking another major milestone in the rollout of Collections Management Systems and Digital Asset Management Systems and Collections Online sites across our museums.

The MNH’s new DAMS, ResourceSpace, provides a secure, searchable, and sustainable environment for managing the Museum’s growing collection of digital assets - from irreplaceable digitised specimens to unique research and conservation media.

What is this new system delivering?

By consolidating digital assets into a single, structured system, the DAMS will:

• 

  Charles Lyell's fossils

  Enhance discoverability and make it easier and faster for staff to locate, share, and reuse media

• Strengthen digital preservation, safeguarding valuable files through multiple levels of back-up, integrity checks, and metadata management
• Improve data quality and compliance, ensuring secure handling of images and better visibility of consent for people-based media
• Promote a unified approach to digital asset management across GLAM, with ResourceSpace now live at all four of our museums

The implementation of the DAMS directly supports GLAM’s strategic ambition to create full machine-readable metadata and digital surrogates of our unique collections and make them available and discoverable online, and to preserve and safeguard them for future generations.

Protecting the future of our unique digital collections

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this successful delivery - from the project team, which was a collaboration between museum and IT Services staff, to the museum staff who engaged in preparing metadata, testing, feedback and training.

With DAMS now live, the Museum is better equipped to preserve and showcase its remarkable digital collections, ensuring they remain accessible, discoverable, and secure.