Digisam National Coordination Secretariat for Digitisation and Digital Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Sweden

History and Founding

Digisam was established in 2011 as a secretariat within the Swedish National Archives (Riksarkivet) following a Swedish Government decision to implement a national strategy for digitisation, online accessibility, and digital preservation of cultural heritage. This national strategy was formally established by the Swedish Government on 21 December 2011. The secretariat was tasked with coordinating digitisation activities among 24 national state-funded cultural heritage agencies, including archives, libraries, and museums. Digisam's initial activity period ran from 2011 to 2015, after which it continued in a different administrative configuration. It later moved to operate under the Swedish National Heritage Board (Riksantikvarieämbetet) before returning to the National Archives.

Mission and Scope

Digisam's role is not to hold archival collections itself but to coordinate, recommend, and support digitisation strategy across Sweden's cultural heritage sector. It develops guiding principles for digital information management, organises networking events, supports institutions in preparing digitisation plans, and participates in EU-funded projects related to digital cultural heritage. Digisam collaborates with equivalent bodies in other Scandinavian countries and participates in EU initiatives such as Linked Heritage, DC-NET, DCH-RP, and AthenaPlus.

Key Activities

Activities include producing recommendations for coordinated digital information management, conducting pilot studies on long-term digital preservation, developing national core principles for managing digital cultural heritage (covering governance, production, use, and preservation), and facilitating networks for institutions involved in EU digital heritage projects. Digisam also collaborated with KTH Royal Institute of Technology on the DISKA project to develop semantic authority resources for cultural heritage.

Access and Usage

Digisam's guidelines, principles, and reports are available via its website at digisam.se in Swedish and English. The secretariat coordinates access to national digital cultural heritage infrastructure rather than providing direct public access to archival content.