Abstract

This public event will examine how management strategies and digital methods can be employed to preserve cultural heritage, especially in an era when universal access and democratisation are counterbalanced by significant preservation risks, from file obsolescence to malicious actors.

The discussion will include an exploration of the Library of Congress’s new five-year strategic plan, which, for the first time, integrates a comprehensive digital strategy. After a year of implementation, key insights have already emerged regarding public access on a large scale. The discussion will also explore the preservation of specialised collections created by individual experts, with particular attention to Professor Almut Hintze’s (SOAS) work on safeguarding Zoroastrian manuscripts and increasingly vulnerable cultural and religious practices.

The conversation will be guided by themes of technology, security, and long-term accessibility, addressing questions such as: How can we preserve cultural heritage in the digital age, for both specialists and the public, in a way which balances access with security? How should we manage these preservation strategies in relation to different types and sizes of collections?