How do I start an online collection?

Depending on the size and nature of your collection, there are a number of collection management systems (CMSs) to chosse from, which allow you to share your collection online. 

You can invest in a CMS which enables you to share your collection on your own website, or sign up for a CMS which also handles publishing your collection online. 

• Deciding on digital tools for collection management 
• Contact one of our Museum Advisors | Kaiwhanake Whare Taonga for advice.

Join the Kōtuia ngā Kete community

By sharing your collections on Kōtuia ngā Kete (Kōtuia) you will become part of Aotearoa’s largest collection-sharing portal for museums, galleries and whare taonga.

Collections shared on Kōtuia are found by communities across New Zealand and across the world  – from teachers to geneologists, museum kaimahi to iwi researchers. 

To start sharing your online collection with Kōtuia you’ll need to sign up as a DigitalNZ content partner. 

Find out more about signing up to Kōtuia 

Collection Projects 

National Services Te Paerangi has supported and funded a number of collections and digitisation projects. 

Project Ark: Digitisation in the Deep South (2018 - 2020)

Over two years, a roving unit of collections and photography staff worked across 12 museums in Southland to catalogue, image and pack small museum collections as part of a pilot project comissioned by the Southland Regional Heritage Committee. The team, consisting of two cataloguers, a photographer and a collection packer, worked to create 4,800 published and 560 unpublished online collection records that were published on the NZ Museums website. Many of these collections can now be found on Kōtuia.