Cultural policy and Australia’s cultural heritage: Issues and challenges in the GLAM landscape

1. Cultural policy and Australia’s cultural heritage: Issues and challenges in the GLAM landscape Wendy Davis and Katherine Howard Faculty of Science and Engineering Queensland University of Technology RAILS8, June 2012

2. Today’s presentation • Background • Commonwealth Cultural Policies: from Creative Nation (1994) to current situation • Responses of our national collecting institutions to the Cultural Policy Discussion Paper (2011)

3. GLAM • Guiding ‘principles’ • Digital technology • Collaboration and convergence • Issues and Challenges • What’s in a name? • Multi-faceted discipline • Cultural policy focus

4. Cultural Policy in Australia • Creative Nation (1994) • Resonance with GLAM • Emphasis on user access • Recognition of new relationship between technology and culture • Institutional collaboration – “Distributed National Collection”

5. 2012 and beyond…. • Cultural Policy Discussion Paper (2011) • National Broadband Network • 10 year plan • Few specifics about “collecting institutions”

6. Visions for a GLAM future • National Gallery of Australia • National Library of Australia • National Archives of Australia • National Museum of Australia

7. National Gallery of Australia • No public response • Mission – to maximise a sense of place and national cultural heritage and identity

8. National Library of Australia • Active digitisation program (newspaper project, Trove) • Encourages user participation • Already engaged in collaborative activity • Need to continue digitisation projects to preserve cultural heritage for the future

9. National Archives of Australia • Serves both Government and public • “helping Australians better understand their heritage and democracy” (NAA, 2012) • Need to preserve cultural records for future generations • Increased access through digitisation

10. National Museum of Australia • “culture” more than “the arts” • Defines itself as a “collecting AND educational” institution • Emphasis also on use of digital technology to increase access for users

11. Looking for a GLAM future • From collaboration to convergence • The Digital Cultural Sphere Submission Paper (2011) • Distributed National Collection • Move past “in-house” collaboration • A national coordinating body – a “pan-institutional” cultural heritage policy

12. Can Australia become a GLAM nation? Wendy Davis @wendyldavis wendy.davis@connect.qut.edu.au Katherine Howard - @K1Howard k9.howard@student.qut.edu.au