The Digital Collections & Access team at Te Papa is responsible for publishing collection records and images to Kohinga Ipurangi Collections Online and the Te Papa API. Collections Data Manager Gareth Watkins digs into the data and what goes into publishing the records.
Every month we publish hundreds of records and thousands of images with the aim of making our collections more accessible to more people.
Our biggest publishing months have been in December 2022 when we published over 20,000 catalogue records – the majority from the Museum Archive – and in February 2024, when we published over 10,700 images – mostly from the Botany collection.
However, the biggest achievement to date was on 10 April 2024, when the one-millionth catalogue record was published! You can read more about the record in our previous post. One million records – we’re shellebrating the occasion!
But not every record and image can, or should, be published online. Often, there are multiple conditions that need to be considered before publication. For example, we need to consider cultural factors, copyright and licensing, and in the case of Natural History specimens whether the specimen is a threatened species or was collected from a sensitive location. Having said that, most of our collection records are published online and accessible to everyone.
Here is how our current online records break down by collection areas:
The traffic light system
To help us assess what to publish, the Digital Collections & Access team have developed several publishing reports within EMu, our Collection Management System. These reports look at records and images that can potentially be published and score them as either Green (publish), Orange (further checks required) or Red (do not publish).
With catalogue records, we firstly make sure that the collection item has been registered in the collection, i.e. it is not an item on loan or a proposed acquisition.
Secondly, we check that the collection item or taonga has a current valid location. An example that would prevent publication would be if an item had been repatriated to another institution (so now at an external location), but we have retained the catalogue record to document that it had originally been at Te Papa.
We also completely exclude records that are flagged as containing human remains, such as a skeleton shown in a photograph. And we consult with subject-matter experts if records contain modified human remains (human bone, teeth, and hair etc).
The on/off switch
Another big part of the publishing process is unpublishing. Because our collections data is always being updated, we need to keep an eye on collection items and taonga that may need to be unpublished. This doesn’t happen often, and mainly occurs when a species has been determined to be threatened or sensitive, or human remains have been identified in a photograph that has recently been digitised.
Using the right(s) photo
Alongside publishing catalogue records online, the team is also responsible for publishing images to Collections Online and the Te Papa API. This comes at the end of a long process involving multiple teams who expertly acquire, collect, catalogue, care for, photograph, and obtain licenses to reproduce images of the items and taonga held within our collections.
We firstly check that the image was created by a Te Papa staff member (or contractor) and has had rights cleared by the Rights team.
We then evaluate cultural factors. For instance, our collections database has a field called Iwi Clearance Required. If this is marked as requires assessment, the publishing report will allow the image to be published, but only in a low-resolution format to allow for people to find and connect with the people and places depicted. We won’t generally publish a high-resolution version of the image until further research has been done and consultation has occurred with the relevant whānau, hapū, or iwi.
At the same time the DC&A team are undertaking the publishing process, the Rights team are looking for opportunities to license Te Papa images either with the owner of any copyright in the item depicted in the image or, if Te Papa is the sole copyright owner in the image, under a Creative Commons licence to increase reuse possibilities.
So, as we celebrate the one-millionth catalogue record published online, it’s a great opportunity to pay tribute to all the staff at Te Papa who, over the years, have contributed to reaching this milestone in creating greater public access to the amazing collections and taonga held within Te Papa.
