Self-paced online courses

The Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Heritage Information Network work with heritage professionals and institutions to help them build their capacity to conserve and preserve objects and collections.

Self-paced online courses allow heritage professionals and volunteers to access detailed information on various conservation and preservation topics remotely and at their own pace. The courses are provided through a partnership with Athabasca University.

Preservation Housekeeping for Heritage Sites and Small Museums

This course covers a variety of topics related to preservation housekeeping with an emphasis on small institutions and heritage sites. The course consists of six main sections:

• How to clean
• Ten agents of deterioration
• Keeping house
• Housekeeping plan
• Walkarounds
• Health and safety

The preservation of heritage sites and museums is an essential area of knowledge for all staff and volunteers working in heritage institutions. Therefore, this course aims to provide introductory knowledge and tools on this topic.

The course "Preservation Housekeeping for Heritage Sites and Small Museums" is offered for free on a platform developed jointly with Athabasca University.

Museum Collections Documentation and Data Cleaning

This course covers a variety of topics related to collections documentation and data cleaning. It consists of seven modules:

• Introduction to documentation of heritage collections
• Introduction to clean data for museums
• Establishing a documentation policy and plan
• Data entry: preventing errors in new data
• Data cleanup and reconciliation: identifying and fixing errors in existing data
• Data migration: migrating or merging data from another system
• How to solve documentation problems

The course provides essential museum documentation information for museum staff with all levels of knowledge, beginning with an introductory overview and ending with specific documentation issues. Learners can take the modules in order or drop in and take one or two modules that fit their needs.

The course "Museum Collections Documentation and Data Cleaning" is offered for free on a platform developed jointly with Athabasca University.