The symposium, "Preservation Everywhere: Bridging the Physical & Digital", will address key digital and physical preservation complexities and how they intersect in the cultural heritage landscape.
This full-day event will feature a keynote presentation by Beatriz Haspo, a culture heritage preservation expert who has worked for national and cultural organizations like Library of Congress and is the Executive Director of APOYOnline.
Schedule
9:45- 10:15AM | Registration and coffee
10:15AM | Welcome and Introduction of Keynote Speaker
10:30AM | Keynote Presentation: Beatriz Haspo (APOYOnline)
Fostering Accessibility in Cultural Heritage on a Regional Level: the Human Factor
This keynote addresses the often-overlooked human dimension of accessibility in cultural heritage, particularly at the intersection of digital innovation and physical preservation. While technology plays a vital role, true accessibility is rooted in empathy, cultural relevance, and regional engagement. Focusing on the Americas and other Portuguese and Spanish-speaking regions, the presentation highlights the critical role of people—heritage professionals, communities, and networks—in creating inclusive access.
A central case study will explore the impact of APOYOnline – Association for Heritage Preservation of the Americas, a multilingual grassroot non-profit organization that has promoted accessible knowledge-sharing and capacity-building for over 35 years. Through education, collaboration, and culturally attuned practices, APOYOnline exemplifies how human-centered approaches can bridge gaps and build resilient heritage networks. This talk advocates for placing people at the heart of accessibility efforts to ensure that cultural heritage is not only preserved but equitably shared.
11:45AM | Break – Visit vendors
12:00PM | Lunch– Box lunch
1:00PM | Concurrent Sessions I
Track 1: Jessica Ebert (Assistant Conservator at the Preservation Lab - Session on RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) with a set up demo.
Title: A Practical Approach to Highlight RTI for Cultural Heritage Collections
Track 2: Dyani Feige (Director of Preservation Services, Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA), Philadelphia, PA
Title: Succession planning for cultural heritage
2:00PM | Coffee, break and tours - Pre register for one of CML’s tours, visit the vendors, or enjoy a break. Tours start at 2:15
3:00PM | Concurrent Sessions II
Track 1: Alyssa Pierce, Digital Preservation Librarian, Case Western Reserve University
Title: How to Develop a Digital Preservation Program and Still Sleep Well at Night
Track 2: Vanessa Applebaum (Toledo Museum of Art) and Sarah Scaturro (Cleveland Museum of Art)
Title: The Past, Present, and Possible Futures of Conservation Ethics
4:00PM | Final break (workshop set-up)
4:15PM | Workshop(s)/Demo open for everyone -
Three concurrent workshops:
This session will provide attendees with guidance on preparing for emergencies in libraries and archives, including the creation of policies, priorities, and training. Additionally, the session will include hands on triage of wet materials in a variety of physical formats.
Digitization offers libraries an opportunity to preserve their physical collection and reach a larger audience, but acquiring the necessary scanners to do so can come at a high cost. During this workshop, participants will explore how their library can best utilize their available resources to create their own digitization scanners. The instructor will walk participants through the design, construction, and assessment phases of Do-It-Yourself digitization scanners with consideration of existing models.
This hands-on workshop focuses digitization techniques for complicated materials such as scrapbooks, tightly-bound books, glass plate negatives, newspapers, etc. The workshop will briefly review FADGI standards and best practices before breaking into smaller groups for scanning demonstrations. Participants are encouraged to submit materials to be used as examples in advance.
5:30PM | Closing remarks
