Later this month, guardians of the world’s cultural treasures will meet in Salzburg, Austria, to explore global themes related to conservation and preservation and develop recommendations for protecting collections around the world. The invitation-only seminar, “Connecting to the World’s Collections: Making the Case for Conservation and Preservation of our Cultural Heritage,” will be co-hosted by the U.S. federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Salzburg Global Seminar from October 28 – November 1, 2009.  Additional support was provided by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

“Over the last couple of years, we have learned so much about conservation needs in America through our initiative, Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action,” said Anne-Imelda M. Radice, IMLS Director. “We have systematically explored and addressed conservation issues at home. In Salzburg, we will widen our scope. Experts from every continent will share their best practices on how best to save the world’s cultural heritage. We look forward to new perspectives and networking opportunities.”

IMLS’s multi-year conservation initiative, Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action, took steps to address recommendations in the IMLS-funded Heritage Health Index, a 2005 report that found that artifacts in America’s collections were at great risk and in need of immediate attention. The seminar expands the scope of the initiative to engage cultural leaders, conservation and preservation specialists who work with museums and libraries, and leaders of cultural heritage institutions, many of them in developing countries. During the three-and-a-half-day session, 60 participants from more than 35 countries will consider questions such as:

■What are the greatest risks to world collections and what strategies can be implemented to manage them?
■How can sufficient resources be secured to assure at least minimal conservation standards?
■What needs to be done in the area of effective emergency preparedness planning?
■What challenges and opportunities are presented by new technologies and digitization?
■How can museums and libraries connect people to their collections to garner the public support they need to make better conservation and preservation a priority and a reality?
At the program’s end, participants and leaders will issue a set of recommendations to overcome institutional, logistical, political, and financial barriers to the optimal conservation of collections. A publication summarizing these recommendations will be posted on the IMLS and Salzburg Global Seminar Web sites (www.imls.gov and www.salzburgglobal.org) and sent to key stakeholders around the world. For more information about the program contact Nancy Rogers, Senior Project Coordinator, IMLS, nrogers@imls.gov or Susanna Seidl-Fox, Program Director, SGS: sfox@salzburgglobal.org.

To follow daily seminar blog posts by Richard McCoy, Associate Conservator of Objects at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, please go to http://www.iiconservation.org/wpress/. To follow McCoy on Twitter, please use hashtag #SGSConnect.