Gertjan Filarski
Anyone who has ever been involved in purchasing heritage software knows this: technical specifications seem dull — until they’re missing.
Because right there, in the details of identifiers, APIs, and ontologies, it is decided whether collection data will become sustainably findable, shareable, and reusable.
The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) has recently taken an important step in making that translation: from policy to practice.
In collaboration with the Dutch Digital Heritage Network (NDE), work has been done on a new Guideline for Technical Specifications for NDE Compliance — a practical document that helps heritage institutions include the right digital requirements when procuring new software.
From Policy to Application
For years, the Netherlands has had the National Strategy for Digital Heritage (NSDE) and the Digital Heritage Reference Architecture (DERA) — frameworks that guide how heritage can be made digitally sustainable and accessible.
But in practice, those documents proved difficult to translate into concrete procurement requirements.
The RCE has now bridged that gap.
In the new guideline, the abstract DERA principles are translated into clear, verifiable specifications: from persistent identifiers to linked data publication, term network integration, dataset registration, and IIIF images.
The Power of Collaboration
The document was written by Filarski Consultancy, in close coordination with heritage experts and IT architects from the RCE.
That combination of technical precision and domain knowledge makes it special: it’s not just a technical document, but a learning tool for the entire sector.
With this, the RCE makes a deliberate choice for collaboration.
The guideline will be incorporated into the NDE, which will take responsibility for its maintenance and further development.
Software vendors are also invited to provide feedback — a rare example of open co-creation in a sector that has traditionally been highly hierarchical.
A Foundation for the Future
What makes this step so valuable is that its impact will be quiet but structural.
Institutions that purchase software based on this guideline in 2025 will be building a future in which collections are directly NDE-compatible.
Less customisation, more interoperability — and above all: less waste of public resources.
The guideline marks a coming of age for the digital heritage sector: the shift from vision to implementation.
And precisely in that transition, the RCE shows what public leadership can achieve when it is exercised with care, transparency, and a focus on the future.