Museum Data Service launches with Goal to unite 100m Museum Records

The Museum Data Service (MDS) is a collaboration between Art UK, Collections Trust, and the University of Leicester, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It has been designed to be accessible for all museums, regardless of size, allowing them to upload collections and consequently allowing users to search and access them.

It launches having already collected an initial 3.1m records from 21 museums, with a further 1.9m records in the pipeline.

Professor Christopher Smith, Chair of the Arts & Humanities Research Council, said the platform will “open… resources up to the public in ways that would have been unimaginable even twenty years ago” and “will also enable museums to manage and share their data securely and sustainably.”

Beyond museums, the intended users of the online platform are researchers in digital humanities, and developers who can access and interpret the raw data.

“The website view of the data is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Kevin Gosling, Museum Data Service Managing Director. “There’s a lot more going on in the back end, with innovative features that allow museums to manage their data securely and share it in a controlled way. Building trust across the sector is key, and the MDS is designed with that in mind.”

Art UK is the first major user of MDS, which will double the number of artworks on the platform from 300,000 to 600,000 by year-end, with millions more to follow.

While the MDS itself does not yet include images, the organisation said the platform has laid the foundation to incorporate visual content.

Professor Nishan Canagarajah, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester added: “By centralising millions of museum records in one accessible platform, we are not just preserving history—we are making it easier to explore, study, and innovate. This project showcases the incredible potential of collaboration and digital infrastructure, and we’re proud to lead the way with our partners in transforming how knowledge is shared across the UK.”

Supporting the launch was Museums Minister, Sir Chris Bryant who said the platform is “another leap forward in museums’ digital capabilities, expanding opportunities for research and collaboration, and preserving the rich history that our museums hold.”

The MDS company is expected to become a registered charity. Its Board of Directors (and in due course the Trustees) comprises two representatives from each of the founding members of MDS. Art UK’s representatives are Dr George Entwistle and John Stack; Collection Trust’s representatives are Dr Aruna Bhaugeerutty and Paul Stevenson; the University of Leicester’s representatives are Professor Tilly Blythe and Steve Williams. The seventh Director, who is independent of the three founding members, and is also Chair of the Museum Data Service is Dr Catherine Eagleton.

Main Image: Professor Ross Parry, Director of the University of Leicester’s Institute for Digital Culture, at the official launch. Photo:  James Winspear.