GLAM Digital Programme

GLAM Digital Strategy

The Digital Strategy provides a high-level vision of how the Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) can harness technology to support research and teaching, engage the public nationally and internationally with Oxford University's globally significant collections, and enhance the management and preservation of the collections through digital means.

Our vision

To embrace the opportunities offered by digital to democratise access to the collections, eliminating geographic, cultural and economic boundaries.

Our 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.

To fulfil this ambition, we will deliver the following:

  • Ensure that all collections are discoverable online through the provision of high-quality metadata.
  • Create digital surrogates of all unique collections.
  • Acquire and create born-digital material and digitise existing material.
  • Optimise access to the collections for digital teaching and research.
  • Utilise the collections to enhance public participation and engage new audiences - locally, nationally and internationally.
  • Create an efficient and sustainable model for preserving and managing the collections.
  • Develop commercial strategies and partnerships, where appropriate, to grow income streams and ensure the financial sustainability of our operations.

Fulfilling the ambitions set out in the Digital Strategy will enable GLAM to facilitate further research, teaching, lifelong learning and public engagement, and encourage new collaborations and experimentation.

Download the full GLAM Digital Strategy (PDF)

Questions & answers

The GLAM Digital Strategy provides a high-level vision of how GLAM institutions wish to harness technology to support research and teaching in the 21st century; as well as engaging the public nationally and internationally. In addition, it outlines how their collection teams will utilise digital techniques to enhance the management and preservation of the collections held by the University.

Find out about the GLAM Strategic Plan (2021-23)

There are six key tenets to the Digital Strategy:

  • Digitisation – creating machine readable metadata for all collections and digital surrogates of the unique collections.
  • Search and Discovery – developing systems to enhance searching across the collections; optimising online access for researchers, students and the public.
  • Digital Research and Teaching – developing the tools and systems to support digital scholarship and teaching.
  • Digital Engagement - producing digital learning and engagement services and resources; conducting community outreach and dissemination.
  • Digital Preservation - building and maintaining systems for digital preservation; and taking action to ensure that data and systems are securely protected.
  • Digital Estate – collaborating with IT Services projects to seek funding to implement IT systems for GLAM collection teams to utilise and realise the objectives above.

 

The implementation plan outlines approximately 50 projects which the programme is nearing completion.  At the same time GLAM are now considering the new projects they'd like to progress in a new cycle of investment.  This will align with a new strategy being developed which will consider GLAMs priorities for the next five years and its longer term digital vision.

This work is being overseen by the members of the Digital Strategy Group

Find out more about our current projects

The GLAM Digital Strategy will be supported by a variety of sources, both internal and external. All the IT related projects, are supported by the central University through its IT Capital Plan and Digital Transformation Programme. 

GLAM would like to also complement this funding from alternative sources to realise the vision of the GLAM Digital strategy.

Visit the webpage for more information on the IT Capital Plan.

The Digital Strategy Group is responsible for implementing the Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) strategic projects, from their initiation through to securing funding and delivering them successfully to enable the GLAM teams to benefit from this IT investment to realise their strategic vision.

The Board is chaired by Prof Dr Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of Pitts Rivers Museum and Professor of Museum Studies, Ethics and Material Culture. Deputy Chair is Amy Warner May, Associate Director, Scholarly Resources at the Bodleian Libraries.

The group has members from across all the GLAM institutions and beyond, who have particular expertise in the Universuty's collections, libraries and the use of digital technologies. 

 

The current membership is as follows:

GLAM Strategic Leads

Co-Chair

Laura Van Broekhoven

Prof. dr. Laura Van Broekhoven

Director Pitt Rivers Museum

Professor of Museum Studies, Ethics and Material Culture

IT Committee Representative

PRM

Co-Chair

Amy Warner May

Associate Director, Scholarly Resources

Bodleian

Kevin Rodd

(Leaving June ’23, Interim Lynne Hirsch)

GLAM Registrar, Chief Operating Officer

Project Sponsor Museum Digital Collections Systems

GLAM

Digital Lead

Deputy (to attend in lead’s absence)

Eliza Howlett,

Head of Earth Collections and Digital Collections Lead

Dr Sarah Joomun

Digital Collections Manager

OUMNH

Chris Thorogood,

Deputy Director and Head of Science

Lauren Baker

Secondary Education Officer

 

OBGA

JC Niala

Head of Research, Teaching and Collections 

TBC

HSM

Judith Siefring,

Head of Digital Collections Discovery

Andrew Bonnie,

Chief of Digital Operations

Bodleian

Aruna Bhaugeerutty,

Head of Digital Collections, Ashmolean & Museums Digital Collections Strategic Lead GLAM

Chris Monaghan,

CMS & DAMS Manager, Museums Digital Collections Vendor Manager GLAM

Ash, GLAM

Chris Morton,

Head of Curatorial, Research and Teaching. Associate Professor of Visual Anthropology

Katherine Clough,

Digital Engagement Officer

PRM

Helen Adams, Head of Audience and Engagement Support

N/A

GLAM

Haas Ezzet, Head of IT  (Museums & Gardens)

N/A

GLAM

David De Roure, Professor of

e-Research,  IT Committee Representative

N/A

Oxford e-Research Centre (Department of Engineering Science) and the Humanities Division

Elizabeth Hatfield, Bodleian Strategic Delivery Programme manager

In attendance; Board secretary

Current GLAM vacancy,

Being covered by Portfolio Manager.