IFLA has created a Risk Register for documentary heritage in order to raise awareness for the preservation, conservation, and safeguarding of documentary heritage (in any format) world-wide. We aim to gather data on documentary heritage collections in order to be able to respond adequately if confronted with natural or man-made disasters.

The Risk Register enables IFLA to provide contact and geo-spatial information to UNESCO and the organisational partners of the International Committee of the Blue Shield acting in case of disaster. This increases the survival of unique documentary heritage and its safeguarding to help rebuild communities in the post-disaster recovery period and beyond.

Who is the Risk Register for?

The Risk Register is for everyone who is an owner/custodian of a documentary heritage collection. In most case these are libraries/archives (national, research, public etc.), but in some cases documentary heritage is in private hands. We encourage registrations to the Risk Register from all holders (public and private) in order for IFLA to respond in the most complete manner.

Why register your collection?

We recommend registrations to the Risk Register from all countries/regions world-wide in order to raise awareness for risk mitigation and training, adequate preservation and conservation of collections, and if disaster strikes, to react to this.

Should a natural or man-made disaster occur, IFLA will work with the nominated contacts for each collection and international agencies to provide assistance on the preservation and conservation of collections.

Who can access the data?

The data registered with the IFLA Risk Register is maintained on secure systems and will only be accessible by authorised IFLA staff. It is collected to react to disaster and safeguard documentary heritage when needed.

Register a collection

To register your collection, an online nomination form must be submitted.  Please see full details on how to register your documentary heritage collection and complete the web form.

For questions, please contact: cultural.heritage@ifla.org.