On this week’s PreserveCast we are talking with Charles Henry the President of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), a non-profit organization that works with libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities to improve research, teaching, and learning environments through the digitization and preservation of cultural heritage. Charles will be sharing the threat that climate change poses on cultural heritage.

Charles is the president of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), a non-profit organization that works with libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities to improve research, teaching, and learning environments through the digitization and preservation of cultural heritage.

He believes preserving cultural heritage connects us with humanity’s collective experience and knowledge, and gives us a sense of identity. However, cultural memory loss can easily occur through destruction (e.g. the early Library of Alexandria), neglect, lack of awareness, war and displacement - even climate change poses a significant threat. 

To address this, CLIR has been working for decades on the preservation and access to cultural heritage. Projects include the Digital Library of the Middle East, one of the world’s largest online archives of Middle Eastern and North African artifacts; the HBCU Library Alliance Partnership, which fosters awareness of and access to collections held by Historically Black Colleges and Universities; and Digitizing Hidden Collections, a $4 million annual grant program that aims to bring highly significant cultural content to light.