Access to data is seen as a key priority today. Yet, the vast majority of digital cultural data preserved in archives is inaccessible due to privacy, copyright or technical issues. Emails and other born-digital collections are often uncatalogued, unfindable and unusable. In the case of documents that originated in paper format before being digitised, copyright can be a major obstacle to access. To solve the problem of access to digital archives, cross-disciplinary collaborations are absolutely essential. The big challenges of our time—from global warming to social inequalities—cannot be solved within a single discipline. The same applies to the challenge of “dark” archives closed to users. We cannot expect archivists or digital humanists to find a magical solution that will instantly make digital records more accessible. Instead, we need to set up collaborations across disciplines that seldom talk to each other. Based on 21 interviews with 26 archivists, librarians and other professionals in cultural institutions, we identify key obstacles to making digitised and born-digital collections more accessible to users. We outline current levels of access to a wide range of collections in various cultural organisations, including no access at all and limited access (for example, when users are required to travel on-site to consult documents). We suggest possible solutions to the problems of access—including the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence to unlock “dark” archives inaccessible to users. Finally, we propose the creation of a global user community who would participate in decisions on access to digital collections.

如今，数据访问被视为首要任务。然而，由于隐私、版权或技术问题，档案中保存的绝大多数数字文化数据无法访问。电子邮件和其他天生的数字收藏通常没有编目、无法找到且无法使用。对于数字化之前源自纸质格式的文档，版权可能是访问的主要障碍。为了解决数字档案的访问问题，跨学科的合作绝对是必要的。我们这个时代的重大挑战——从全球变暖到社会不平等——无法通过单一学科来解决。这同样适用于对用户关闭的“黑暗”档案的挑战。我们不能指望档案管理员或数字人文主义者找到一种神奇的解决方案来立即使数字记录更容易访问。相反，我们需要建立很少相互交流的跨学科合作。基于对文化机构中 26 名档案管理员、图书馆员和其他专业人士的 21 次采访，我们确定了让用户更容易获取数字化和原生数字馆藏的主要障碍。我们概述了当前对各种文化组织中各种藏品的访问级别，包括根本无法访问和有限访问（例如，当用户需要前往现场查阅文件时）。我们提出了解决访问问题的可能解决方案，包括道德地使用人工智能来解锁用户无法访问的“黑暗”档案。最后，我们建议创建一个全球用户社区，他们将参与数字馆藏访问决策。