Canadian Heritage recently released its most recent report on the 2015 GOC Survey of Heritage Institutions [‘gchi-table_1462551915497_eng.pdf’ is available in PDF format (936 KB) | about the freeware (PDF)]. This survey collects financial and operating data from Canada’s heritage institutions, museums, art galleries, archives, historical sites, zoos and botanical gardens. The data collected from the survey, which was gathered from 1622 institutions in Canada, helps provide a better understanding of Canada’s not-for-profit heritage sector. The most recent survey highlighted the efforts heritage institutions are increasingly taking to digitize their holdings as well as make content available online.
Digitization in Heritage Institutions
Digitization of artefacts and records is both a means of preserving an institution’s collection and of providing digital access to holdings for audiences. The most recent survey measured both the amount of physical records that had been converted to digital and the amount of borne digital records (records originating in digital form) held by Canada’s heritage institutions.
Collectively, the institutions that responded to the survey held a total of 5.5 million gigabytes of borne digital records, and 5 million gigabytes of physical objects converted into digital records. Archives held the most digital records, followed by museums.
The percentage of records converted to digital across all institution types was 16.4%. Museums had the highest percentage of records converted to digital, at 26%, followed by art galleries at 21.8%.
Inventory of Existing Content
Combined, Canada’s heritage institutions have over 6.9 million linear meters of textual records; over 109 million graphic materials (such as photographs, drawings, watercolors, prints, cartographic maps, aeronautical or navigational charts); and 1.8 million hours of film, video and sound recordings. Not surprisingly, the bulk of this content is housed by archival institutions.
Heritage institutions also had a total 60.9 million artefacts in their collections. These objects include archeological artefacts, military objects, fine art, scientific or technological objects. Additionally, heritage institutions housed an estimated 40.8 million natural history/scientific specimens (mostly plant, animal, paleontological and geological).
Canadian Museums Are Expanding Their Digital Offerings
Of the digital content held by the institutions surveyed—meaning collections, artefacts and records that have been converted to digital form—9.8% is available online. Art galleries had the highest percentage of their digital content available online (16.5%). Museums had 12.8% of their digital content available online, while archives had 5.4% and historic sites had 4.4%.
The institutions surveyed hosted a total of 2,620 online exhibits, a 20% increase from the 2013 survey. According to the survey data, these institutions had a total of over 146 million online visits (compared to 61.9 million in-person visits), with a 4.6% increase in online visitation since the previous survey. Museums had the highest number of online visits at over 58 million, followed by archives at 41.5 million.
As a basis for comparison, Canada’s heritage institutions hosted a total of 16,166 permanent exhibitions over the same time period. Of those, 7,838 of them were newly created. Another 2,677 exhibits toured between institutions. Interestingly, about 49.8% of heritage institutions charged admissions fees and the average adult admission fee was $9.82, a marked increase from the $7.60 two years before.
Information about digital content is new to the 3D 2015 edition of the Government of Canada Heritage Institutions, and demonstrates a growing interest in the extent to which museums are preserving their artefacts and records in digital form. Compared to the 2013 edition, museums’ online visitation as well as the amount of content offered online is on the rise.
Additional Information about the Survey
The response rate for this online survey was well over 30% and therefore Canadian Heritage would like to thank everyone who took the time to answer the survey. Look for the next edition of the survey to be launched sometime in 2017. Getting longitudinal data is very important in order to draw inferences regarding the state of the heritage community in Canada, to isolate meaningful trends over time, and to provide timely facts to policy makers. Heritage institutions can also use this information to benchmark their progress against a national or provincial average. The quality of the data is such that results can also be broken down by small, medium or large institutions.
March 2017
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