ABSTRACT
The ability to create digital representations of museum information resources has transformed the way users of these resources work with museum collections, inside and outside of the museum. The widespread availability of digital objects (as well as digital collections of digital objects) has resulted in unprecedented levels of access, where resources once inaccessible to the general public are increasingly available for all the museum’s users over the Internet. Accustomed to preserving information for use within their institutions, museum professionals are now spending more of their time disseminating this information outside of the museum. This shift in focus has led to fundamental changes in how museums are perceived and what role they should play in the information society, changes that have affected not only museum visitors but also museum professionals (Cameron, 2003; Coburn & Baca, 2004; Hamma, 2004a; Knell, 2003; Rayward, 1998).
