Indigenous digital collections: an early look at the organisation and culture interface.

In 2004, researchers from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) conducted a review of the ATSILIRN (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Libraries and Information Resource Network) Protocols for Libraries, Archives and Information Services. (1) The protocols had been available for a decade, but no assessment had been made of their usefulness or impact. The findings were presented in 2005 to the ATSILIRN conference in Canberra. Many participants in that review expressed, or confirmed, a need for an additional section to give guidance on the digitisation of Indigenous materials. It was clear from these comments by professionals, and confirmed by a subsequent exploration of the issues in a 2005 evaluation of the Northern Territory Library's model for Library and Knowledge Centres, (2) that digitisation of Indigenous materials posed some complex issues for organisations. Briefly, for the purposes of this study, these complexities emerge in the intersections of Indigenous and Western knowledge management systems and between the expectations of Indigenous communities and professionals in collecting institutions. They include, for example, the challenges posed by the need to accommodate different access conditions for materials that contain sensitive Indigenous knowledge and by the need for institutions and communities to deal with conflicts around different concepts of intellectual property associated with Indigenous and Western knowledge systems. These complexities emerged in addition to the routine challenges being dealt with in the evolving area of digitisation practice.

The general literature has been growing in the digitisation area, as have national and international activities that focus on the digitisation of collections for enhanced access and preservation of high-demand, fragile or rare materials. The literature generally indicates a concern in the information profession about the need for consistent standards and protocols in digital repositories across institutions (3) and includes discussion of the role of digital libraries and archives, (4) intellectual property (5) and copyright issues, (6) digital rights management, (7) knowledge webs (8) and banks, (9) changing technologies, and more.

Alongside these discussions, there is growing international demand for Indigenous knowledge (10) and, in turn, concern to safeguard and protect this, including in the digital domain, as a vital resource of Indigenous communities. (11) The UN has been active in this area (12) and IFLA, more recently, has taken the issues on board through a Presidential Committee. At the ATSILIRN conference in Sydney in 2006 a small workshop was organised with ATSILIRN members and other colleagues to focus discussion on the emerging concerns, with particular regard to the digitisation of Indigenous materials in Australia.

While there is some confidence and progress with regards to technical standards for the conversion of materials to digital forms, (13) there is still much uncertainty when dealing with other fundamentals, such as how to traverse public access and use of materials in the context of intellectual property and copyright regimes and how to respond to the needs and concerns that Indigenous people express about materials that relate to them. Questions in need of answers include:

* To what degree do 'generic' practices and processes need to be adapted to ensure appropriate public use of Indigenous knowledge materials in digital collections?

* How will institutions deal with materials in ways that safeguard the interests of Indigenous peoples?

* What can be relied upon to inform best practice in this area?