System change 2.0?

Advantages and disadvantages, perceived and real principles in the life cycle of integrated collection management systems

Abstract

In our days, the computerization efforts of public collections (libraries, museums and archives) – for unified procedures, standardization, metadata management and serving user needs – seem to be in line with the growing amount of information, as well as with general expectations and financial constraints. The records of public collections have been digitized at an increasing pace in recent decades. The records of libraries and archives have been almost entirely uploaded, while the records of museums and various archives have been uploaded into computer data files, and, increasingly, into integrated collection management systems.

Does an approach supporting and prioritizing digitization, online orientation and lifelong learning inevitably require the replacement of IT systems that serve public collections? Which decisions can be attributed to technical and technological progress, and which are forced by perceived or real user needs? How far has the situation changed as compared to an earlier paper on the subject, read in 2003?