We helped almost 140 cultural heritage organisations with advice in 2022

281 requests for advice in 2022

You can read about what helpdesk requests actually are, how to ask them, and how other organisations have experienced this service in the past in this article. And we’re delighted to share the most remarkable figures and insights from last year with you here.

Last year, we helped lots of organisations by answering 281 helpdesk requests. This is slightly below last year’s record number – a decrease for which we have no conclusive explanation. It is noteworthy, however, that cultural heritage organisations were busy writing their policy plans in 2022, just as they were during the previous decrease in 2017.

Who asked the helpdesk questions?

These 281 helpdesk requests came from 137 enquirers, each asking an average of two questions. Just like the number of requests, the number of enquirers also decreased slightly compared to the previous year. But one thing that remained largely the same was the types of enquirers. The vast majority (some 75%) are active in the heritage sector. In second and third place are the arts sector with 6% and research and education with 5%. Museums, just like in previous years, came to us the most frequently in 2022, accounting for an overwhelming 41% of all requests. Archive institutions and heritage societies follow with 11% and 10% respectively. It’s notable that service-oriented heritage organisations, local authorities and heritage libraries had significantly fewer questions for us in 2022.

Good to know: almost half (42%) of the enquirers were meemoo content partners. This is an increasing number, which is not surprising when you consider that the number content partners with whom we collaborate is also gradually increasing. The remaining 57% of enquirers are not content partners – and it’s great that they are also finding their way to our services!

Answering all our helpdesk requests helps us to reach all across Flanders and beyond. Most questions came to us from the provinces of Antwerp and East and West Flanders, closely followed by the Brussels Capital Region. Just like in previous years, organisations from Flemish Brabant and Limburg accounted for a smaller share of the questions, which is no big surprise considering these provinces have fewer nationally recognised cultural heritage organisations than the others.

What kind of requests did they come to us with?

From very specific technical questions to broad strategic and policy issues – just like every year, we received a wide range of digital heritage queries. 

Leading the way in 2022 were cultural heritage organisations mainly looking for advice on registering digital collections: we dealt with no fewer than 77 requests on this topic. And this is no coincidence, with 16 new registration projects starting in 2022, which we’re supervising as part of the Flemish government’s initiative to deal with the backlog of digital collection data. 

‘Over the course of our project, we sometimes doubted the best approach. But fortunately we could always rely on advice from meemoo. They provide a critical perspective and point out the possibilities and directions you can take, without dictating how to do it. This gave us the necessary push to make decisions and bring our project up to speed.’ - Jenever Museum

Policy and strategy were also popular topics with 67 questions.

‘We didn’t know where we stood on the digital strategy front, but we were still able to take our cautious first steps thanks to the patience, flexibility and answers to our questions from the meemoo staff. We still have a journey ahead of us, but it’s reassuring to know we have someone to fall back on.’ - Texture

It’s notable that the number of requests we receive about digitisation (33) has started to decline compared to previous years. Cultural heritage organisations also had significantly fewer questions about accessibility (32) in 2022, which came out on top two years ago.

The enquirers don’t only appreciate the meemoo staff’s strong and broad content expertise, but also the critical attitude and vision that we can adopt as outsiders.

‘Erfgoed Brugge (Bruges Heritage) is a project with a certain history that makes it difficult to look at from a bit further away, which is sometimes what’s required. Meemoo’s external perspective has been very useful, by helping to review quotes and asking questions to potential suppliers.’ - Bruges Culture Policy Department

When do cultural heritage organisations turn to us?

In terms of timing, the enquiries were fairly evenly spread throughout the year. However, just like in previous years, we see a small peak in the months of February and March, and a slight decrease in the months of November and December.