Public Access Service to NRICH’s Archival Records
Baek Ju-hyun
Researcher, Digital Heritage Team
To share with the general public a wealth of research materials produced at cultural heritage sites, the NRICH, a national institution dedicated to cultural heritage research, operates the “Public Archive Service for National Heritage in Textbooks.” Since its launch in November 2023, the service has recorded approximately 30,861 downloads to date.
Development Process
Public interest in NRICH’s research records—such as excavation site documentation, measured drawings, artifact cards, and historical photos—has steadily increased, with growing demand from academia, education, and the media. Notably, in the Research Projects the Public Wants from NRICH in 2024 survey, the top-ranked project was “Providing Cultural Heritage Research Records Linked to School Textbooks”, highlighting its public relevance and raising high expectations.
This also highlighted the need for public services that convey accurate history through textbooklinked content—an essential role for NRICH as a national institution dedicated to cultural heritage research.
To that end, NRICH curated research materials related to familiar heritage sites featured in elementary, middle, and high school textbooks, selecting over 200 key records covering 31 national heritage sites found in 21 textbooks published in 20 volumes. Numerous advisory meetings (2023–2024) were held to reflect input from the education sector. Records with strong classroom relevance—such as materials from the Japanese colonial period, excavation photos, artifact cards, and restoration drawings—were carefully selected. All content is downloadable in high quality without copyright restrictions, ensuring accessibility and ease of use.
Users can search for cultural heritage by school level and textbook unit, and download individual images or entire sets. Additionally, analog-format records such as photographs, film, slides, and paper-based materials (drawings, rubbings, artifact treatment cards) were digitized in high resolution to improve access and satisfaction through proactive, tailored content delivery.
(circa 1970s)
Chimi (Roof Ridge Ornament)
Sotong 24 Survey Conducted: April 8–18, 2024 (Respondents) 288 members of the general public (Survey Topic) Selection of the Most Anticipated Research Projects Among 15 Initiatives
User Satisfaction
In 2024, NRICH participated in Korea’s largest education fair, “the EDU+WEEK 2024 Future Education Expo,” introducing the website to a wide audience, including teachers and students. A user survey conducted with 790 participants who explored the “National Heritage in Textbooks” content revealed that 95% of general users expressed a willingness to revisit the site, while 98% of education professionals found it highly useful and said they would use it frequently. Since launching the online service, user satisfaction has averaged 4.8 out of 5, and the site has recorded over 30,000 cumulative visits to date.
Participants: 27,578
Looking Ahead
Some of the research records disclosed through “National Heritage in Textbooks” have already been included in the 7th National Curriculum textbooks as of 2024—specifically in two middle school history books (History II) and one high school textbook (Korean History). Going forward, more content will be made available through subject expansion (e.g., Korean language, science, art, and social studies), and NRICH plans to actively support the use of these materials in educational settings—such as classrooms and teaching aids—through close collaboration with local education offices and governments. We hope that the “National Heritage in Textbooks” content provided by NRICH will be widely used as an educational resource to address the lack of awareness about cultural heritage and respond to historical distortions by neighboring countries.
- “National Heritage in Textbooks” offers high-quality, digitized content on familiar
national heritage sites featured in school textbooks. This tailored service is easily
accessible to all users and is available under the “National Heritage in Textbooks”
section in the Thematic Content menu on the National Heritage Knowledge Link
Portal—NRICH’s academic research and information service website.
Website Overview
National Heritage in Textbooks https://portal.nrich.go.kr
