Digitization Plan for The Fusilier Museum London

Sponsor:	The Fusilier Museum London
Sponsor Liaison:	Beth Wyrill
Student Team:	Tobias Chin, Christopher Fletcher, Harleen Kaur, Andrew Paster
Abstract:	The Fusilier Museum London plans to release digital reproductions of their World War II collection in time for the 80th anniversary of the 1945 Allied Victory in Europe. Our team was tasked with creating a digitization plan that the museum will use to facilitate their digitization efforts. We identified best practices for digitization and scoped the 16,726 pages of the WWII collection. We surveyed 50 visitors and tracked visitor attendance, creating a dashboard to visualize trends in the data that could aid the planning of museum events. Through a careful evaluation of digitization companies, we found that Max Communications Ltd. would best fulfill the needs of the museum, largely due to their affordable pricing and prior experience with regimental museums.
Link:	Fusiliers Final Report Final Presentation Fusilier Museum London Fusiliers Supplemental Materials

Executive Summary

The Fusilier Museum is a small museum that aims to tell the story of a British infantry regiment established at the Tower of London in 1685. Like many other regimental museums, its mission is to preserve and share the story of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers from its inception to the present day. The museum shares the story of the Royal Fusiliers across their history through its collection of photographs, personal letters, and war diaries (The Fusilier Museum, n.d.). The museum is committed to protecting and sharing the Regiment’s legacy with both current and future audiences.

Figure 1: The exterior of the Fusilier Museum (Nevell, 2014)

A 2021 study conducted by the University of Barcelona found that only around five percent of stored museum collections are accessible to the public (Corona, 2022). Digitizing museum archives will ensure that the materials are preserved for future generations and allow them to be viewed by a larger audience. Only a limited number of individuals can view physical items, however, digital reproductions can be viewed globally, helping to spread information and cultural heritage to a broader audience. Digitizing an object also helps to preserve it, protecting the item from excess handling by those studying it. A digital copy will never deteriorate with age and, if stored properly, is not at risk of fire or water damage. While it can be financially challenging for many museums, digitization provides numerous benefits for any collection and more museums are pursuing this than ever before.

The Fusilier Museum has been taking strides to address this growing emphasis on digital preservation and accessibility. In 2013, the museum digitized their entire World War I collection as part of a multi-museum initiative to virtually showcase their WWI material. With The National Archives set to release their official WWII service records this year, the Fusilier Museum expects to receive an increase in research requests from general researchers and families of those who served. To meet this demand, the museum seeks to digitize their WWII collection, allowing researchers to conduct their inquiries online.

The goal of our project was to create a digitization plan for the Fusilier Museum London to release their WWII collection in time for the 80th anniversary of the Allied Victory in Europe in 1945. To fulfill this, we created the following objectives: determining the current and best digitization practices in museums, conducting visitor surveys and tracking attendance, scoping the museum’s WWII collection, evaluating digitization companies, and developing and presenting a budgeted plan and timeline.

To gain a better understanding of the current and best digitization practices at local museums, we conducted interviews with staff from the Green Howards Museum, Fusiliers London Volunteer Museum, and Fusilier Museum Lancashire. These interviews were semistructured, in which the broad topics of conversation remained the same, but the questions were modified based on the interviewee’s responses. During these interviews, we learned of potential digitization solutions, including companies and local organizations to contact, possible naming conventions, and long-term plans for the Fusilier Museum. It was commonly emphasized that standardized metadata and file naming conventions are essential to ensure that digital projects can be integrated with the museum’s broader collection. These interviews provided necessary context for the project before we began evaluating companies to design a budgeted proposal.

Figure 2: Administering Visitor Survey

To further inform the digitization plan, our team worked with staff at the Fusilier Museum to develop a visitor survey instrument and an Excel sheet to track visitor numbers. These tools helped the museum gain necessary information to submit a funding application. We collected 50 anonymous survey responses to generate a visitor demographic, including gender, ethnicity, and age. Visitors were also asked questions regarding their visit and any recommendations they had to improve the museum. These surveys indicated that visitors were primarily White and under the age of 45, and 92% of respondents were first-time visitors. We also found that 62% of these individuals were potentially interested in a digital collection and would like to see stories of individual Fusiliers, interactive content, and detailed topics not covered in the museum’s galleries. Lastly, the survey asked visitors to reflect on their visit and offer any recommendations. Responses mentioned adding better gallery lighting, improving interactivity, and providing a map or guide to assist in navigating the museum.

Figure 3: The team scoping the collection

Simultaneously, we tracked the museum’s attendance to provide them with accurate numbers to add to their funding application. We created an Excel spreadsheet to efficiently track visitor numbers across various hours and days of the week. To visualize the trends in the data, we automated the spreadsheet to update a dashboard as new data is collected. Our dashboard showcased that the museum receives over 1,500 visitors daily, which is 20% of all Tower of London visitors. Furthermore, we identified that the number of visitors peaks from 12:00 to 13:00, and 38% of visitor groups are families with children. The Fusilier Museum can use this data to strategically plan outreach and educational events. Additionally, our team created comprehensive workflows to aid museum staff and volunteers when continuing to track and survey visitors.

Finally, our team created a grading rubric that evaluated the digitization companies. We utilized this to create a final budgeted proposal, which was later presented to the museum’s Board of Trustees. The rubric considered five main categories: pricing, transportation, experience, timeliness, and security. These categories were assigned a weight from 0 to 100 to reflect their relative importance to the museum. Each company was then graded on a scale of one to five, in which five was the best score for each category, and this score was multiplied by the weight. Each of these scores were summed to display the total score in the rightmost column.

Table 1: Grading Rubric

After evaluating each company, Max Communications received the highest score and was then recommended to the Board of Trustees. We were impressed by their previous experience with regimental museums and by the affordability and quality of their work. They can complete the project by October of 2025, aligning with the museum’s goals to release the collection later this year.