Report on the survey of storage conditions of museum objects in Slovenia

This report is part of the start-up project’s WP6.1 – Advanced Materials for Cultural Heritage Storage, led by the Research Institute of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia (IPCHS) in cooperation with the University of Primorska (UP), Pulp and Paper Institute (ICP), the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), EuroCloud Slovenia and Fraunhofer WKI from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2021. The start-up project was dedicated to the development of advanced materials for the protection of cultural heritage objects as well as the research regarding their storage and sensorification. The start-up project is one of the eight boosts of the EU’s InnoRenew project (H2020 WIDESPREAD-2-Teaming; #739574) coordinated by the University of Primorska.

The report outlines the results of the research focused on storage conditions in Slovene museums and galleries. Data was collected by a structured questionnaire that included questions referring to the organisation of museums’ depots as well as collections’ storage methods, applications of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) systems, utilisation of long-term storage packaging and transportation of museum objects. Overall, 78 questions in the Slovene language were prepared. The questionnaire was administered using the OneClickSurvey (EnKlikAnketa) online survey tool. Altogether, 89 Slovene museums were invited to participate in the survey, which ran from September to December 2018, inclusive. Sixty-one museums replied to the questionnaire, and an 80 % response rate was calculated. Data gathered provided a foundation for further work on the start-up project.