Capturing Museum Knowledge : A Twenty Year Evolution in Digitally Recording the Tropenmuseum Collection

It makes sense for institutions to digitally register their collections or company information. The possibilities and applications seem endless. Office automation has been introduced in almost all museums in the Netherlands. However, some Dutch museums have not yet formulated an information policy or reserved a separate budget for ICT. ICT is still insufficiently integrated in Dutch museums as a policy. This publication describes how, in the course of twenty years, the Tropenmuseum has developed from a completely analogue institution to a museum where digitisation is central and forms part of all work processes. All the ups and downs of twenty years of automation and digitisation of the Tropenmuseum collections are described here. This publication can be used by heritage institutions as a case study in the field of digitisation of collections and possibly offer useful ideas for their own digitisation process.