The PAC Regional Centre for Asia at the National Diet Library (NDL) of Japan is one of the sixteen IFLA PAC Centres that are spread all over the globe. The PAC Centres have a wide range of expertise concerning preservation and conservation as well as safeguarding cultural heritage. The PAC Regional Centre for Asia is specialised in paper conservation and digitization, it was this expertise that was shared with experts from Syria.

Two experts from the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums, Ms. Razan al Jundi and Ms. Fatat Kamel Jadid were invited to the PAC Regional Centre for Asia in Japan for two weeks to participate in a Training Workshop for Preservation of Paper Cultural Heritage organized as a part of the Silk Road Friendship Project funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The four-day workshop from May 22 to 25, 2018 was spent on learning the techniques for preserving paper documents and books. During the workshop, Ms. al Jundi and Ms. Jadid learned basic repair techniques for mending torn or damaged pages using Japanese paper as well as how to make protective enclosures.

The workshop was very successful and the PAC Regional Centre for Asia hope to be able invite and work with more experts from around the world.

You can read more about the workshop here.