Collections and Sustainability, looking back at the ICCROM-CGHD workshop

The Our Collections Matter (OCM) Toolkit developed by the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) is now online! It helps organisations preserving cultural objects (books, manuscripts, archaeological objects etc.) to connect with the Sustainable Development Goals.

On Wednesday the 16th of June, ICCROM and the Centre for Global Heritage and Development (represented by Marzia Loddo and Rients de Boer) organised an online workshop with professionals from literally around the world to discuss the possibilities of the Toolkit and to give feedback.

We discovered that decisions taken in the past, or practices that have become commonplace can be very power consuming or not environmental friendly and as such a hindrance towards sustainability. Another issue is that accessibility to collections is an important prerequisite for matters such as inclusion and participation, but that this can be at odds with (sustainable) preservation protocols or techniques.

During an upcoming online workshop we will present some successful case studies of organisations that used the Toolkit towards sustainability.

contact: Marzia Loddo