Digital Documentation of Museum Collections for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Digitalization enhances the impact of museum collections, and it is a global trend for sustainable development. Documentation of museum collections is an essential part of museum development because there is no meaningful museum setting without proper documentation. It is through documentation that museum collections would be understood and appreciated by the audience. Initially, documentation of museum collections can be done through manual procedures. Today, with the advent of digital technology, museums are taking another dimension, paradigm shift from analogue to digital. Different cultural organizations have called upon digital documentation of museum collections to sustain the vital information, accessibility and preservation of collections. People can easily access museums online, secure objects, and go in line with sustainable development. The most crucial part of digital documentation is to manage, administer, record keeping and maintenance. Digital museums are drivers of research, education, creativity, employment, entertainment, economic growth and development. Many museums institutions in Africa and other parts of the world are not digitalized. The paper's objectives are to explore digital documentation, its significance, and what digital tools can be used to digitalize museums. The article adopted content analysis, using a secondary source of data. The sources include textbooks, articles in journals, newspapers, pamphlets etc. All these volumes form the data. The paper finds that digital documentation is important in every human endeavour to ascertain sustainable development, easy connectivity with other social development sectors, and protection against illicit trafficking and other crime against museum objects. The paper recommends that museums in Africa should key into digitalization and employ experts to facilitate museum activities professionally.