We're closing this year's DAM and Collections Management for Cultural Heritage conference the way the best collections are built: by looking at everything we've gathered and asking what it actually means.

For the final 30 minutes, the panel of experts will step back from the day and reflect on the ideas that landed, the tensions that didn't resolve, and the questions that kept resurfacing whether we were talking about metadata standards, digital preservation, or the weight of stewarding centuries of culture on a constrained budget.

Then the floor opens.

A descriptive term in search of a clear meaning: 
"Digital preservation" is a term that gets thrown around constantly in cultural heritage circles – but what does it mean, in practice, for galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and performing arts organisations operating within real-world constraints?

Is it different from:

• Backup? 
• Storage?
• Digitisation? 

Clarity is required if under-resourced GLAMP organisations are to make the move from theory to practical implementation.

A rapid-fire round of real-world insights from digital asset and collections management practitioners across the cultural heritage sector.

1) “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once”: Reframing Collections & DAM for the Future of Cultural Heritage

This lightning talk offers a candid, quickfire reflection on DAM and collections management in memory institutions – where we have come from, where we find ourselves now, and why well-intentioned systems so often fail to deliver on their promise.

Since the millennium, the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) has undertaken a range of digitisation projects to make Heritage Library and Archives collections accessible online. However, a new organisational strategy in 2021, driven by the aim to become a digital‑first organisation and improve access to College information and knowledge services, combined with a new public engagement programme, led to a shift towards prioritising digitisation for enhanced engagement with members, staff, and wider public audiences.

This presentation will explore how The Postal Museum developed its capacity to preserve and make born digital records accessible. As one of the UK's most significant business archives, holding records designated as being of outstanding national importance, The Postal Museum faced unique challenges in capturing, preserving, and making accessible the digital records of Royal Mail Group plc and Post Office Ltd. 

Cultural heritage organisations have spent decades building rich, standardised metadata, but are their collections truly discoverable? As AI transforms how users search and interact with digital collections, heritage professionals face a critical question: how do we bridge traditional metadata practices with AI-powered discovery while maintaining the scholarly rigour and contextual depth our collections demand?