Topics in this newsletter:

• New website for the interview collection of the Dutch Veterans Institute
• Search-and-replace available in Atlantis
• Review of the Thematic Afternoon Atlantis User Group
• International collaboration between Dutch and Flemish museums
• DEVENTit visits KVAN Archive Day in Apeldoorn

New website for the interview collection of the Dutch Veterans Institute

The Dutch Veterans Institute has an impressive collection of over 1,700 interviews in which Dutch veterans share their experiences during wars and peace missions from 1940 to the present. These are now available to listen to online. The stories provide a unique and personal insight into the commitment of military personnel and the impact these missions have had on their lives.

To carefully manage and sustainably preserve this valuable collection, the interviews are stored in Atlantis and published through this new Atlantis website. Thanks to this systematic archiving, the interviews remain accessible for research, education, and interested parties. Currently, over 700 interviews are available online after simple registration.

Each interview is clearly structured with summaries every ten minutes and equipped with keywords, allowing for targeted searching. The collection is designed so that users can filter by characteristics such as service, branch of the armed forces, and mission. This keeps searching clear and efficient for both researchers and interested parties. This way, an important part of Dutch military history remains alive and accessible for future generations.

Search-and-replace available in Atlantis

In collaboration with users of Atlantis, a search-and-replace function has been implemented. This has proven to be a very useful addition for cleaning up data and bulk operations. This function is now available free of charge to all users of Atlantis. With this new functionality, a

(or part of a) single field can be quickly adjusted for a selected number of records.
When the Search-and-replace button is used,

an extra button appears for each field where this is meaningful, allowing you to open the search and replace pop-up. Within the pop-up, you then have the option to search and replace or to append.

What you can do with Search-and-replace:

• Replace exact value
  For example, search for Jan, replace with Piet → all selected records with “Jan” will be adjusted.
• Fill empty fields
  Leave the search field empty and fill in only the replace field.
• Clear filled fields
  Fill in only the search field and leave the replace field empty.
• Search by text part (”contains search”)
  Use % as a wildcard, for example %test% → “Klientje” with %ie% and replace with ei becomes “Kleintje”.
• Append value
  Add something to all selected records. For example: appending "Kleintje" with " friet" gives "Kleintje friet". This option only works on fields where appending makes sense (so not on relationships, dates, or thesauri).

Do you want this functionality enabled for your environment? Please report this via Jira.

Review of the Thematic Afternoon Atlantis User Group

On May 15, the new board of the Atlantis User Group organized a thematic afternoon with the theme ‘The relationship with the outside world’. During this meeting, the focus was on how organizations connect their collections with external parties and the public.
Ben Boortman from FEHAC gave a clear presentation on the external focus of FEHAC. Ben explained how FEHAC collaborates with clubs and external organizations such as the DAF museum to enrich and connect collections. After that, discussions took place regarding the various choices organizations make about whether or not to make their collections publicly accessible.

Subsequently, DEVENTit presented the possibilities of Atlantis, with special attention to Linked Open Data. Topics such as presenting collections, improving findability, and reaching new target groups—including machines—were discussed. This led to a lively exchange of ideas about the use and opportunities of Linked Open Data.
We look back on a valuable afternoon where users shared experiences and new ideas emerged to further strengthen the relationship with the outside world.

A report has been shared via the online portal of the User Group, and the presentations can be viewed again. Feel free to respond within this environment. The board is eager to organize another thematic afternoon. If you have suggestions for a topic, we invite you to share them.

International collaboration between Dutch and Flemish museums

The spring edition of Museumpeil (2025) focuses on the collaboration between Dutch and Flemish museums. The museum sector is becoming increasingly international. Where museums used to focus primarily on their own collection and region, there is a growing awareness that cross-border collaboration offers opportunities for knowledge sharing, efficiency, and social impact.

Limited resources and personnel make collaboration increasingly necessary. International programs such as Creative Europe help address shared themes. ICOM plays a role in this, among other things, through joint standards and translations, such as the international museum definition. The challenge is to balance local anchoring and international collaboration. Museums remain connected to their environment but benefit from a broader perspective—especially on themes such as sustainability, digitization, and heritage protection.

Collaboration across borders is not a luxury but a necessity to continue functioning as future-oriented, relevant institutions.

DEVENTit visits KVAN Archive Day 2025 in Apeldoorn

On Monday, June 16, we will be present as visitors at the KVAN Archive Day 2025 at Theater & Congres Orpheus, Apeldoorn. This year’s theme is Total Digital, a topic that directly addresses the challenges many archives face today: making collections fully digital, searchable, and accessible, so that archives are available digitally and information is easy to find.

We hope to speak with existing relationships during the Archive Day and answer questions. Will you be present? Feel free to approach us! We are happy to think along about how your organization can take the next step in the digital development of the archive.