Pacific digital library finalist in global awards

Digital technology is being used to connect Pacific museum collections from around the world, and this work is being recognised with a prestigious award nomination.

Digital Pasifik is an online platform where people can view Pacific art and artefacts from international collections.

Programme manager Taputukura Raea says the platform helps to connect custodians with cultural history.

“We spoke with one of our colleagues in Germany and he said there’s warehouses of Pacific collections, not one warehouse, warehouses, and a lot of these collections are away from our homelands and away from the people that it belongs to.

“If we could highlight our project and the work that we do … it could be a bridge-building exercise where the people that hold these collections can learn about the cultural sensitivities that these items hold.”

Mary, Teinano, and Alice Marsters weaving green coconut baskets, Palmerston Island, 1960. Photograph taken by John Colles Burland. Ref: PA12-0517-18. Alexander Turnbull Library.

Over the last few years, there has been a surge in museum items and remains being returned to their original Pacific nations, however Raea said some Pacific museums don’t have the capacity to do this.

“They’re always struggling with space, in some of them the air conditioning has broken down so it’s kind of hard for them to preserve it, but if it’s preserved overseas, where they can have it digitised and access to it, I think they’ll be comfortable with it.”

The programme, funded by Australia, is a first-time finalist for a Digital Preservation Awards in Belgium, in the safeguarding the digital legacy category.

Speaking to William Terite on Pacific Mornings, Raea said it’s a milestone for the platform and the industry.

“This is the first time a Pacific project has ever been noticed in these awards.

“We've worked with a lot of Pacific museums in the Pacific who often struggle with resources, tools and staff development and I think if we could highlight some of their projects and the work that they do with this global award we could potentially get them a lot of help and support from these institutions around the world.”

Watch the full interview on Pacific Mornings with Digital Pasifik's Taputukura Raea: