Why Museums Need a Centralised Archive for Digital Assets

12th August 2025

For hundreds of years, museums have catalogued the world’s rarest, precious and most treasured assets. From works of art to ancient artefacts, archivists and curators have become experts at preserving them while making them available to the general public—but the digital age has introduced new challenges.

Today, these historically and culturally important works are replicated in different media formats, and although there’s no risk that a scanned version of an ancient manuscript will be damaged by exposure to the elements, there are a whole range of new challenges that DAM Managers and Archivists have to deal with.

The digital asset challenges facing museum DAM Managers and Archivists

The digitisation of museum collections has created some key challenges:

1. Digital assets become siloed
2. Assets becoming duplicated
3. It’s hard to keep track of where assets are stored
4. Version control is difficult

Siloed content

Different museum departments need digital assets for a variety of reasons. Marketing teams might need a version that’s adapted with overlaid graphics to be shared on social media, archivists will need a high resolution image to share with academics or preservation experts, while print-ready assets for physical promotional collateral will also be required.

However, these assets can quickly become siloed if teams aren’t working closely together or have a single centralised digital archive, leading to confusion about what exists and where.

Duplicated assets

A secondary issue with siloed content is that it can quickly become duplicated, with the same version of an asset being stored on employees’ local drives, in cloud storage and in email threads. This doesn’t just waste storage space, but also leads to confusion over where to find assets and which version is the most up-to-date, both of which pose issues themselves…

Wasted time searching for assets

If museum staff aren’t sure where the master version of an asset is they’ll spend a lot of time looking for it, searching through shared drives or contacting different team members to try and track it down.

Modern museums and heritage institutions own a huge number of assets, so even if teams have to spend just a few minutes searching for an image or document, that can add up to hours of wasted time per month.

Lack of version control

A lack of a centralised archive also makes it hard to ensure version control. When there’s no single source of truth, it’s impossible for team members to know which is the latest version of an asset, or which is the original and best quality asset that should be used as the starting point for any adapted version.

What a Digital Asset Management system offers

A centralised Digital Asset Management (DAM) system is an essential tool for museums looking to manage their enormous libraries of images, video, audio files, scanned documents and other digital content. 

With teams spread across departments and often working with overlapping material, a DAM transforms the way in which museum collections are stored, accessed and shared.

Easy sharing across museum departments

Museums are collaborative by nature, with curators, archivists, educators and researchers all engaging with the same assets in different ways, but with a shared purpose. 

A centralised DAM allows these teams to access a single source of truth, reducing duplication and making it clear which versions of an asset should be used by different stakeholders. Whether it’s a curator sourcing images for an exhibition or an archivist cross-referencing materials for conservation, a DAM makes it so much easier for departments to work both collaboratively with and independently of each other.

Consistent metadata and tagging

One of the biggest challenges in managing museum content is inconsistent or incomplete metadata. 

A DAM system enables comprehensive and structured metadata tagging, ensuring every asset is described in a clear and standardised way. This not only improves searchability, allowing DAM users to find the right asset quickly,  but also makes it easier to track usage rights and connections between items, saving time and supporting more accurate record keeping across departments.

Streamlined research and exhibition planning

Planning an exhibition or research project often requires curators, archivists and marketing teams to work with a huge amount of visual and archival material, and a well-organised DAM speeds up this process by allowing users to search by theme, period, artist or object type. 

Curators can quickly build collections, identify gaps and share proposed content with other teams or institutions, supporting efficient planning and reducing the back-and-forth of manual file requests.

Opening up archives for researchers and the public

Making it easy to access and share digital assets isn’t just valuable internally—it also supports public access, academic study and cultural preservation. 

With the right permissions in place, a DAM allows museums to securely share specific collections with members of the public and researchers, as well as journalists and educational partners. This opens up new avenues for public access, education and stakeholder engagement, helping museums to extend their reach beyond the limitations of their physical location.

READ MORE: The role of technology in museums and how it's enhancing visitor experiences

Disaster recovery and secure backups

Museums are responsible for preserving valuable historical and cultural assets, but the digital versions of those items also need to be properly protected. 

A robust backup plan and disaster recovery features of a centralised DAM system safeguard against data loss and unauthorised access, whether it’s accidental deletion, system failure or a cybersecurity incident. Having a reliable backup strategy in place ensures that your digital assets can be restored quickly.

Unlike ad hoc storage solutions, a DAM also  typically offers automated, offsite backups and version history, giving you peace of mind that assets are secure and retrievable. It also allows museums to maintain a full audit trail of asset usage and changes, which supports transparency and accountability. For institutions that serve as stewards of our shared history, this level of protection and security is essential.

Case Study: ResourceSpace + The History of Science Museum

ResourceSpace is trusted by arts and heritage institutions all over the world to organise, manage and protect their invaluable digital assets, while it can also be integrated with The Museum System, EMu and MuseumPlus.

However, you don’t have to take the word of The History of Science Museum, The Ashmolean Museum or The Walters Art Museum as to why ResourceSpace is the ideal DAM for the arts and heritage sector—why not book your free demo below, and we’ll walk you through all of the features that will streamline your digital preservation and curation efforts.