Digitization in Cultural Memory Institutions: Analysis of the Practices Carried Out in 17 Institutions in Ankara

Digitization is one of the processes in which cultural memory institutions make investments. The digitization process that is mostly based on creating digital copies of the analog sources generally involves various business processes in order to present the cultural memory. The aim of this study is to analyze the digitization approaches and problems that occurred during the digitization process of the cultural memory institutions in Ankara which are conducting digitization projects on their collections. For this purpose, an interview form consisting of 13 open-ended questions was developed based on the literature review about the digitization processes in these cultural memory institutions. This form was used in interviews with the specialists of 17 institutions that implemented digitization at different scales. The findings of the study revealed the digitization practices, the decision-making processes and future predictions of these institutions in Ankara. The results of the study showed that the institutions started digitization for the purposes of coping with inadequate physical space, preserving the original copy and increasing the accessibility to the sources. Moreover, it has been determined that the institutions faced problems in the digitization practices, such as equipment deficiencies, output quality problems, collection and hardware selection problems, and low level of description standard and collection management system usage.