EINSTEIN AND TASMANIAN TIGERS ACADEMIC HERITAGE IN FLANDERS AND

ITS CHALLENGES

S. Leenknegt, D. Segers, I. Rotthier, G. Van Paemel, F. Scheelings, T.

Noordermeer

Interuniversity Platform for Academic Heritage

Ghent University

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

University of Antwerp

KU Leuven

Interuniversity Platform for Academic Heritage

• Begun in 2007

• Started with 4 members (1 of

each university)

• SAE as example

• Project funding from Flemish

Government

Aims of Platform

• Gain an overview of academic heritage (AH) in Flanders

• Make university boards aware of the necessity of policies on AH

• Design long-term strategies for professional collection management of AH

• Gain and exchange expertise• Make AH known to broader audience

Funded project: Balans en Perspectief

Phase I (2011 – 2012):

• Screening of universities of Leuven,

Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels

• 100 collections described

• Estimated amount over 1.000.000

objects

Academic Heritage in Flanders

• Collection management ≠ core business

• 54 of 100 collections have inventories

→ Only 14 digital inventories

• 3 of 100 collections (partially) digitized

• Many collections lack any form of policy

• Conservation problems

Report published

soon:

Balans en

Perspectief.

Academisch Erfgoed

in Vlaanderen

Balans en PerspectiefAims of phase II (2013-2014)

→ Screen other institutes for

higher education for AH

→ 8 colleges already contacted

→ 20 new collections ‘discovered’

Aims of phase II

→ Create stories

about

extraordinary / rare

/ significant objects

and collections

Aims of phase II

→ Research on how to create an online

portal for AH

• Database with digitized objects + stories on

special objects/collections

• Report with results of research

→ Public event to present results of

project

A future for academic heritage

→ Consolidate results of the project

→ Gear collection management to

one another

→ Making inventories and digitization

is key

A future for academic heritage

→ From project basis to regular basis

→ Integrate initiatives for AH into policy:

→ at the level of universities

→ at the level of Flanders

www.academischerfgoed.be

http://academischerfgoed.be/in-english