Treaty Grounds in countdown to NZMuseums web launch

The redeveloped website NZMuseums (nzmuseums.co.nz) was launched on Wednesday 17th September 2008 by National Services Te Paerangi, a team at the Museum of NZ Te Papa Tongarewa.

The new website will be a global showcase for the collections and activities of NZ museums, including items from the collection of the Waitangi National Trust.

It will also be a museum directory, on-line collection management system, and a site for discussion and learning about museum issues and events through its Blog, News, and What’s On sections.

“We are pleased to be presenting this national digital initiative on behalf of the museums of NZ,” said Dr Seddon Bennington, Te Papa’s chief executive.

“All museums can take part, but this new website particularly enables smaller museums that do not have a web presence to show their wonderful collections to the world.

“The site will also draw visitors to museums that they might otherwise not have known about.”

“Fifty museums placed their collections on-line in time for the launch,” said Wallis Barnicoat, manager museum development in National Services Te Paerangi.

“Over the last year we have been preparing museums to be involved, and we look forward to the number of museums and their contributions to the site growing exponentially over time.”

The new NZMuseums website will also give museums large and small the opportunity to get feedback from the public. This will, for example, help many museums to acquire more information about objects in their collections, such as identifying un-named people in photographs.