Blick in den Ausstellungsbereich „digitize!“ des Museums für Naturkunde Berlin. Zwei Personen arbeiten an Digitalisierungsstationen mit Monitoren, Kameratechnik und Scannern. Im Hintergrund zeigt eine großflächige Projektion zahlreiche digitalisierte Sammlungsobjekte.

Taking the collection into the future

The collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is far more than a natural history archive: it is a living repository of knowledge that holds answers not only to the key questions of our time, but also to future questions that we do not even know about today. Whether they are fossilised remains from earlier geological eras, type specimens of newly described species, or meteorites that provide clues to the origin of water on Earth – each of the approximately 30 million objects in the collection holds the potential for new insights. Systematically tapping into this potential and making it available for widespread use is one of the most important aspects of our Museum Evolution, put into practice in our Future Plan and, more specifically, in the sub-project ‘Collection Access and Development’, more than half of whose objectives have been achieved by the end of 2025.

The aim is to safeguard the historically accumulated collection in the long term, to digitise it and to make it accessible worldwide. Until now, many objects have been stored in old cupboards and were only documented or available digitally to a limited extent. Through conservation measures, structured data collection and systematic digitisation, these holdings have been – and continue to be – gradually transferred into an open knowledge infrastructure.

Using modern digitisation methods, standardised workflows and new technical equipment, large numbers of objects have been efficiently catalogued. At the same time, this work has been made visible to the public – for example, in exhibitions such as ‘digitize!’ or ‘ZUGvögel – Collection in Motion’, which offer insights into the processes behind the scenes and were, in some cases, created through public participation. 

Core data structures and specialist databases are being further developed. Uniform standards ensure that collection information can be reliably recorded, archived for the long term and made available via the museum’s own data portal as well as international platforms such as GBIF or Europeana. The introduction of a guideline on copyright labelling also makes it possible to make data and digitised material from the mass digitisation project openly accessible under Creative Commons licences – an important prerequisite for making the museum’s collection accessible worldwide, as intended.

High-resolution images, audio recordings and 3D models now enrich the digital catalogue. Through open access, innovative ideas and collaboration with partners, new forms of use have been trialled as part of the Future Plan. One example is the 3D-based tactile model of a forest dung beetle, which demonstrates how digital collection data can promote innovation and inclusion.

The combination of physical objects and the digital collection items created as part of the ‘Collection Cataloguing and Development’ sub-project of the Future Plan is opening up new opportunities for collection-related research and, consequently, new insights – for example, in the study of meteorites, urban biodiversity or the history of the collection.

Part of the collection development and accession work involves the extensive preparations for the forthcoming collection relocations, which continued in 2025. These are linked to the refurbishment of the museum and the establishment of the second site in Berlin-Adlershof. They represent a further essential building block in the development of the collection as a central driver of research and the Museum Evolution.