ZentralGut - a regional digital cultural heritage node

ZentralGut is a dynamic and growing regional platform dedicated to the digital cultural heritage of Central Switzerland. It offers memory and cultural institutions in the region the opportunity to publish images of objects, photographs, and texts from their collections. From the very beginning, the platform has promoted inter-institutional collaboration, which continues to shape every stage of its development. ZentralGut is based on the open-source software Goobi and provides several standardized open interfaces for both human- and machine-readable access, including OAI-PMH and IIIF. In line with the Open Science policy of the ZHB Luzern, ZentralGut encourages data providers to publish their content under a Creative Commons license. Each object is accompanied by comprehensive metadata, including rights information and various download formats to support potential reuse. Cooperation with platforms such as Wikimedia Commons and UnsereGeschichte.ch helps to further increase the visibility and accessibility of the ZentralGut repository. The platform’s open and inter-institutional approach with a strong regional focus is its defining characteristic. Barriers to participation are intentionally kept low in order to encourage smaller institutions with limited resources to share their digital collections. ZentralGut also offers valuable opportunities for networking, allowing institutions to establish or strengthen contacts through collaboration. In addition to presenting the platform itself, our pitch will focus on this core idea of cooperation.