The Past Preserved, The Future Accessed

How do we care for tangible heritage engraved in fragile papers, fading photographs, and overlooked records? A recent workshop at Ahmedabad University invited students, archivists, and library professionals to explore this question through hands-on conservation and digitisation practices.

Participants learned to clean and handle brittle materials with care, and engaged with tools like the Bookey scanner and DSpace to understand how digital archiving can preserve memory and extend access.
What began as a technical introduction became a deeper reflection on heritage conservation, which is not only about saving the past but also about making it visible, usable, and meaningful for the future.