Conservational supervision of digitisation measures and exhibitions

Measures for digitising print media are supervised from a conservation standpoint – before beginning work, we assess whether the printed media in question are suitable for digitisation and document their current state. The selected works are then prepared for digitisation and, once the digital copy has been created, re-assessed for any damage as part of the quality management process.

We predominantly digitise media whose paper is so badly damaged that conservation or restoration measures are no longer possible. After being digitised, the originals are optimally packaged and stored but no longer available on loan for users, owing to their poor state of preservation. The digitised work created from the so called “mummified” printed work secures the original’s content and enables its continued use as a digital copy.

Exhibitions are supervised from a conservation standpoint during the planning phase in particular, but also throughout the period of the actual exhibition. The objects are checked in advance for any potential existing damage and to assess if they are suitable to be exhibited. You can find out more on the topic of exhibitions in our preservation policy (version 1.0, last updated: 1 August 2018).