The use of augmented, virtual and mixed reality (AR/VR/MR) to experience and perceive cultural heritage is less adopted by museums, libraries, archives and cultural institutions than other fields. There may be concerns that AR/VR have the potential to stop visitors from attending in person (Coates, 2020). However, in 2020, many museums have started to offer virtual tours of their collections during the global COVID-19 pandemic. This, in fact, has forced in different moments the closure of most museums and institutions. In the following reading, the difference between those digital technologies and why cultural institutions are using them now will be described.@en

In the late 1990s, the explosion of electronic resources resulted in large-scale digitisation projects amid the need for the preservation of digital information. The KB, National Library of the Netherlands, has been actively involved in these activities. Now, it is proposing better ways to both preserve physical library materials and improve their accessibility for educational purposes. This article describes two ongoing projects that involve preservation and public engagement. One, in its early stages, is to test the applicability of 360° imaging to support virtual access to the special collections’ storage. The second is the virtual reality production, for educational purposes, of children’s pop-up books. Both projects could inspire other libraries to introduce three-dimensional or virtual reality technologies and their applications to new audiences. This article describes each project, shows the methods used, and discusses the expected outcomes@en

Collections-based organizations (CBOs) can play a crucial role in addressing sustainable development (SD), but their aspiration to become more sustainable, as seen in policies and guidelines, is confronted with several challenges in practice. To facilitate a sustainability transition, this process of change needs to be managed and adequate tools adopted and implemented. Many tools exist to support this transition; however, a scarcity of centralized resources available to CBOs might negatively affect the integration of sustainability practices in their work. With the aim to address this gap, ICCROM launched the project “Our Collections Matter” (OCM) and developed an online toolkit (OCMT) to centralize resources and help CBOs align their work to the UN Agenda 2030. Recently, a workshop was organized with professionals in the field to discuss shared challenges and aspirations and to test the OCMT. This study reflects on how such centralization of resources can contribute to overcoming existing challenges and support the sustainability aspirations of CBOs, fostering change in the field. To do that, the workshop outcomes are analyzed and discussed from a change management perspective, looking at the impact that the OCM project and its activities can have on fostering change, and the role that ICCROM can play in facilitating the sustainability transition of the field.@en

Despite the fact that the Netherlands is a small, centralised country, its storage facilities are surprisingly diverse. What has led to the development of such different storage solutions? In order to address this question, we followed three lines of investigation. Firstly, a survey was conducted to evaluate stored collections in the Netherlands. Secondly, a selection of facilities were visited to investigate the evolution of storage buildings, systems and collection management. Thirdly, to inform future decision-makers, a quantitative benchmark was created by evaluating key data on floor areas, objects and costs.

This article discusses the evolution of storage in the Netherlands in terms of sustainability, access, climate control and location. Each facility was developed with objectives specific to its time and relevant for the stakeholders of that project. Over time, project stakeholders, objectives and ambitions changed. Political and economic drivers formed the basis for shared storage facilities in which different functionalities to work with or study the collection are available. When budgets were cut and sustainability became a global issue, a shift towards low-energy buildings occurred. Over time, Dutch museums became aware of their societal roles and their accountability as treasurers of the nation’s heritage. Collection centres were created to foster connections with the public and to legitimise the vast numbers of stored collections. This study shows that in order to develop new storage facilities that are economically, socially and financially sustainable, attention must be paid to longer term objectives for such buildings.@en

The use of digital tools in architecture and design education has been experimented with since the 1990s. The representation and communication of architectural narratives have been facing an unprecedented challenge in education, research, and practice during the past couple of years. This study investigates if using 360-degree photography/video and virtual reality (VR) technologies can be beneficial in architectural education. It focuses on museums and their storage facility areas and buildings, and looks at how digital technologies can raise awareness of these spaces and improve future museum designs. Starting from the fact that museums usually lack a proper storage area due to wrong designs, this project has investigated how the subject of museums is treated in design courses and, how VR representation could help students visualise and immersively navigate an area usually not known to many: the storage facility. The digital representation of real objects and the environment using 360-degree photography/video and VR technologies were tested on international architecture students in The Netherlands and Germany. The research methods combined qualitative and quantitative approaches (e.g., interaction, surveys, interviews, and visual/narrative devices) related to museums and cyber-ethnography. The results demonstrate how the digital tools positively affected students’ consciousness of museums and architectural qualities and how they inspired students to explore the area further. Students became more engaged and motivated throughout the workshops; they were able to learn from and compare different resources, providing valuable quanti-qualitative results. This paper will describe how 360-degree photography and VR visualisation were integrated into the existing teaching approaches.@en

Applying imaging to architectural and urban heritage studies is not new. Drawing, painting and pho-tographing, and most recently digital imaging have been applied as techniques for the representation and preservation of heritage buildings, cities and landscapes. New technologies and media in the service of heritage is a fast-growing field, best known as virtual or digital heritage (Wang et al., 2020). Such immersive experiences include Virtual Reality (VR), Serious Geogames have been enhancing and enriching how people experience heritage, improving and upscaling public involvement and knowledge about its cultural significance.@en