Project on sustainable infrastructures in libraries receives NWO funding

News - 06 March 2024 - Communication

For years now, national libraries, such as the National Library of the Netherlands – KB, have been working tirelessly to digitalise their collections. However, due to the costs and energy usage associated with these digital infrastructures, libraries are also under increasing pressure to reduce their energy usage and emissions, while also – at the same time – ensuring maximum usability and accessibility to their collections.

Therefore it is necessary to find an optimal mix of infrastructures that is economically viable, meets legal, academic and cultural requirements, simplifies user access, and minimises energy use and emissions.

Real Versus Digital: Sustainability optimization for cultural heritage preservation in national libraries (ReVerDi)

Through the ReVerDi Project, Professor of Heritage & Technology Uta Pottgiesser (TU Delft | Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment) plans to tackle this challenge, together with her co-author Jeff Love, research fellow in digital heritage design at the TU Delft | Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering.

The ReVerDi project examines sustainable infrastructures in libraries, balancing the growing demand for digital media with the need to preserve physical collections. It applies the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment approach to assess these infrastructures from an environmental, social-cultural and economic perspective and provides the scientific basis required for national libraries and other GLAM institutions (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) to create future-proof infrastructures. 

The project is a collaboration with the National Library of the Netherlands (KB), the British Library (BL), the Swiss National Library, the University of Surrey, and the University of Bern

NOW – Call “Climate & Cultural Heritage: Collaborative research to address urgent challenges”

NWO has awarded three Dutch projects in the call ‘Climate & Cultural Heritage: Collaborative research to address urgent challenges’. Transnational and transdisciplinary consortia were invited to submit a proposal for research at the intersection of climate change and cultural heritage. A total of 16 research projects were awarded, three of which are led by a Dutch researcher. This international call is a collaboration between the JPI Climate, JPI Cultural Heritage and the Belmont Forum. A budget of €283,300 is available for each of the projects awarded by NWO. 

To find out more about this NWO call, click here.