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To prepare for a significance assessment or a preservation needs assessment, take the following steps before your assessor arrives:
- Clearly define the purpose for undertaking the assessment.
Prepare a written project brief including the name of your organisation, the project title, date, author or brief and contact details for the organisation. It should also include background information about the organisation, project and funding application.
- Read pages 58 – 62 of Significance 2.0 – A Guide to Assessing the Significance of Cultural Heritage Objects and Collections to familiarise yourself with the methodology.
- Review the report templates and make sure that the assessor is aware of the requirements.
- Clearly define the extent of the assessment to be undertaken.
Will the assessment consider all or part of a collection or selected objects? If the whole collection is to be assessed, how will it be physically undertaken? If the collection is large, clearly define the scope of the assessment.
- Clearly identify the material before the assessor arrives. Arrange a suitable working space. Valuable time is lost when objects and documentation cannot be found or working space is inadequate.
- Gather together all relevant documentation and provide it to the assessor before their visit. This might include your application and grant details, catalogues, details about the material and transcripts of interviews about the stories associated with the collection
- Contact anyone who may be required to provide information to the assessor and make sure they are available for consultation.
- Make sure the assessor has full access to the collection for the specified period of time.
More information on significance assessments can be found in a series of webinars that were developed for CHG recipients. Log in as a guest to view them.
Templates
Significance assessment report
The significance assessment should clearly identify the history, themes, importance, meaning and value of the collection. If you intend to apply for future CHG grants, you will be required to submit this report with your application.
- Significance assessment template - PDF (PDF, 213kb)
- Significance assessment template - Word document (DOCX, 26kb)
Preservation needs assessment report
This report should enable your organisation to develop a conservation program. The Australian Institution of Conservation of Cultural Material (AICCM) have developed a template for use by all conservators. This template must be followed by all conservators preparing a preservation needs assessment for a CHG recipient.
Conservation and collection management activities
When your organisation has completed a preservation needs assessment, you may then apply for funding to undertake the projects recommended in your report.
If you’re applying for digitisation funding, organisations are encouraged to upload images to their websites and social media and, where possible, contribute their digitised collections to Trove.
Please read the CHG Guidelines for details of eligible activities and what supporting information is required in the application.
Further information and resources
Further information and links on conservation, digitisation, climate control, lighting and disaster planning are provided below.
National cultural institutions and professional associations
- Australian Institute for Conservation of Cultural Materials (AICCM)
- Australian Museums and Galleries Association
- Australian Society of Archivists
- Australian War Memorial
- Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation
- National Archives of Australia
- National Film and Sound Archive
- National Gallery of Australia
- National Library of Australia
- National Museum of Australia
Other resources
Digitisation
- Digital NZ’s Make it Digital Guides, a one-stop shop for questions about creating digital content in New Zealand
- Public Records Office Victoria’s Just Digitise It Training Guide
- The Association for Recorded Sound Collections’ (ARSC) Guide to Audio Preservation
- State Library of New South Wales’ Digital practice: Guidelines for digitising images in NSW public libraries
Copyright
Climate control and lighting
- A Practical Guide for Sustainable Climate Control and Lighting in Museums and Galleries (PDF, 3.8mb)
- A Case Study on Lighting for Museums and Galleries (PDF, 1.3mb)
Conservation supplies
The following suppliers provide a range of archive products. The National Library of Australia does not endorse them or accept responsibility for the quality of their products.
- Air And Aqua Tech, 1300 002 228
- Archival Survival, Doncaster East, VIC
- Endangered Heritage, Fyshwick, ACT
- Munters, Northmead, NSW
- Zetta Florence, Fitzroy, VIC