A report based on the survey we mentioned in August is now released:

The cultural heritage community sits on a goldmine of images, texts, sounds, films, video, data and metadata of immense interest to wide variety of specific sectors and the general public. The resources that these organisations hold increasingly come as digital files and objects: either ‘born digital’ or older works freshly reformed for the media and formats of the internet age. The digital resources produced by the cultural heritage community – and often funded by the public purse – form a set of highly valued and trusted materials particularly desired by the research and education sectors, and general public. This community, especially those partaking of public funds, faces pressure to place their digital resources online and to make them available to the research and education sectors.