The State Library of South Australia has revealed it has been working with an organisation in the past few years to help it preserve and protect the State heritage items it holds should it need to as Australia keeps experiencing significant natural disasters.
The Library is aware that cultural heritage and collections elsewhere have suffered disasters and the same could happen in South Australia making it crucial that it be prepared.
“Over the last few years, the State Library has worked with Blue Shield Australia to deliver workshops in collection disaster preparedness and response,” the Library said.
“Blue Shield Australia is part of an international network, working to protect the world’s cultural heritage threatened by armed conflict and natural disasters.”
“Earlier this year Blue Shield Australia partners held training in Disaster Risk Management for Heritage (DRM4H).”
It said the training attracted 140 participants from across Australia, New Zealand and the near pacific, as well as different disciplines including architects, engineers, archaeologists, librarians, and conservators.
“The training focused on all areas of cultural heritage including the landscape, place, buildings, and collections,” the Library said.
“Each of these aspects are interdependent in a risk management context.”
It said that after the two-days of training participants came away with a stronger understanding of the importance of: Investing in disaster prevention; Investing time in understanding the complex relationships that exist in DRM4H context; and A renewed understanding of the multi-layered and interconnected nature of our heritage places and collections.
