Culture24 – the not-for-profit organisation that publishes 24 Hour Museum - has been commissioned by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) to partner with Collections Trust and MLA developing national programmes and strategy, strengthening the profile, management and digital accessibility of culture in the UK.
"A joined-up digital strategy is vital for the future development of museums, libraries and archives in the next decade." commented MLA Chief Executive Roy Clare.
"This partnership with Collections Trust and Culture24 will enable MLA to take a more strategic and pragmatic approach to these areas of work and get greater impact from our investments."
The partnership, launched this week, sees the Collections Trust taking a lead on collections-related work including standards, copyright and professional development for collections management.
Culture24 meanwhile will work with sector partners on audience-facing content strategies and a joined up digital strategy for the museum, library and archive sectors.
Culture24 staff and trustees with Arts Minister Margaret Hodge at a recent launch. © Culture24
"It is really exciting to be working strategically with the new MLA in this way," said Jane Finnis, Director of Culture24.
"The huge social and technological changes online mean we need to find new models for online publishing in the cultural sector and new ways of thinking about our work that focus on the needs of users."
"This new partnership is the first practical advance in supporting a more innovative and joined up approach across the sectors that will help us to start work on the next generation of digital services that the sector needs."
Together, Collections Trust and Culture24 are developing ‘Integrated Architecture’ to join up digital cultural content, making it more accessible and boosting sustainability and value for public money.
A new generation of Culture24 websites – to be launched in Autumn 2008 - will showcase how cultural information can be innovatively packaged using the new Integrated Architecture, to meet the needs of different users.
Data-sharing partnerships are also being established with key agencies such as London 2012, Visit Britain, Arts Council England and the National Education Network.
Culture24 is also working closely with the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the wider education sector on a new digital service to create an authoritative and comprehensive point of access to cultural sector educational resources.
As part of the new partnership with MLA and Culture24, Collections Trust will be taking responsibility for the management, review and integration of existing MLA digital programmes including Cornucopia, the People's Network Discover Service and MICHAEL.
The MLA website is at www.mla.gov.uk and the Collections Trust website at www.mda.org.uk.
