Abstract
M.Phil. (Information Management)
The aim of this study was to determine the possible benefits and challenges if libraries, archives and museums (LAMs) in South Africa were to collaborate on digitisation efforts. The following research question was formulated: What are the benefits and challenges that South African LAMs face when collaborating for digitisation purposes? The study thus addressed the collaboration between LAMs for digitisation purposes, in the context of the South African LAM landscape and challenges that LAMs face when undertaking digitisation projects while attempting to find possible collaborative solutions to the challenges encountered during digitisation initiatives.
A mono-method qualitative study was undertaken to investigate the main objective, that is, if collaboration could help LAMs deal with the challenges they face when digitising their collections. The objectives were addressed by a literature review and by conducting non-standardised, semi-structured interviews with 21 interviewees at different LAMs. It was concluded that collaboration could indeed appreciably alleviate problems related to digitisation, the most prominent being the cost associated with such endeavours. It was found that funding for digitisation projects was a major problem while collaboration between LAMs would mean sharing the financial burden among several institutions.
In addition, several reasons preventing LAMs from forming collaborative partnerships for the purpose of digitisation were also identified. A lack of collaborative digitisation policies and means of communication, both internally and between LAMs, was found to be a major obstacle to the formation of such partnerships. In order to investigate how these concerns could be overcome a Namibian policy guiding collaborative digitisation was explored as a benchmark case study. This policy was especially noteworthy due to its being formulated by an African country.
In determining the relevance of the research, it was important to find out whether or not LAMs in South Africa were open to collaboration and responses to this question were positive. It can thus be concluded that the results of this study can be used to motivate and guide collaboration partnerships for the purpose of digitisation between South African LAMs.