Assessing Risk to Cultural Property 1
| Instructors: | Robert Waller | Moya Dumville |
|---|---|---|
| Course Date: | March 31, 2025 | |
| Cost: | $400 |
Assessing risks to cultural property, including but not limited to Museum, Library, and Archive collections, is becoming a fundamental ability for collection care professionals. This introductory course provides a firm foundation on which to build an understanding of risk-based approaches to cultural property protection. Ideas associated with the terms hazard, risk, deterioration, damage, and loss are clarified. Risks are defined as departures from the goal of shepherding a collection forward in time without it suffering damage or loss. We will explore the importance of comprehensiveness and of clear definitions of risks. Tools are provided and practiced to ensure comprehensive sets of well defined risks can be developed based on agents of change and types of risk.
Participants will develop a useful set of defined type 1 (rare and potentially catastrophic) specific risks relevant to their institution. The potential impact of those risks will be ranked according to estimates of likelihood and impact. This will provide focus in the development of emergency preparedness plans and resources. It will also provide a platform for more effective communication among functional groups within your institution including collection management, registration, conservation, facilities management, security, finance, and possibly others.
- Course Goals
- Understand risks to be departures from a goal and the importance of defining a SMART preservation goal
- Understand hierarchical structures for comprehensive risk identification
- Learn how to define risks clearly and concisely
- Understand how risks can be quantified based on likelihood of occurrence and severity of impact
- Develop a semi-quantified and rank-ordered list of type 1 (rare and potentially catastrophic) risks to their collection
Participants will learn how to think comprehensively about hazards and risks to collections and how to identify, define and roughly quantify type 1, rare and potentially catastrophic, risks. In just four weeks we can not possibly cover all knowledge and learn all skills required for comprehensive cultural property risk analysis. Still, by focusing this four weeks on understanding fundamental concepts then practicing by focusing on type 1 risks, participants will complete the course with a rank ordered set of type 1 risks that will provide valuable understanding for developing Collections Emergencies: Preparedness to Resilience and moving on to more comprehensive risk analysis and management in Assessing Risk to Cultural Property 2.
Participant Outcomes
Participants will:
This course is a prerequisite to Assessing Risk to Cultural Property 2.
Risk assessment and management approaches to preventive conservation were first suggested almost 35 years ago. Since then, numerous approaches have been developed, applied, and published. Three of the better known approaches include Quiskscan, ABC, and the Cultural Property Risk Analysis Model (CPRAM). People unfamiliar with these may think that they are interchangeable, and each could have value in any given context. That is not true. Each of these approaches was developed within a specific context and for certain purposes. This presentation briefly describes each of these three approaches, and their strengths and limitations. Armed with this understanding, institutions and collection care professionals can decide which approach(es) they believe will be most beneficial for their situation. Make sure you choose an approach that will be fit for your purpose. Watch the webinar Robert gave on September 12, 2023 Risk-based approaches to preventive conservation: Which to choose for my situation?
Too learn more about taking an online professional development course with Museum Study visit What is involved in taking a Museum Study course?
Assessing Risk to Cultural Property 1 addresses the American Association for State and Local History's
- Stewardship of Collections Standard 2: The Institution legally, ethically, and effectively manages, documents, cares for, and uses the collections. Does the institution take appropriate measures to ensure the safety and security of artifacts and archival items in its care?
- American Association for State and Local History's Management Standard 4: The institution has appropriate measures to ensure the safety and security of people, its collections and/or objects, and the facilities it owns or uses.
- American Association for State and Local History's Management Standard 7: The institution takes appropriate measures to protect itself against potential risk and loss.
Comments from participants:
Thank you again, so very much, for these classes! They’ve been truly informative and really pushed me to think in more definite terms about my assumptions, and to really try to bore down to valid numbers when thinking about where the risks are.
It was great to relate to other museums and hear about the issues and risks that they occur. I also really enjoyed how the course was specifically designed to relate to your own institution.