Skip to main content
  • noneedit
  • As a Heritage Educator, Conservation Expert, and Researcher, I am deeply passionate about preserving and promoting cu... moreedit
In recent holocaust year, the COVID-19 crisis has deeply affected societies around the world, declining the global economy into a deep recession. With the majority of cultural institutions forced to close their doors, the museum and... more
In recent holocaust year, the COVID-19 crisis has deeply affected societies around the world, declining the global economy into a deep recession. With the majority of cultural institutions forced to close their doors, the museum and cultural sectors have been most affected. Despite the challenges posed by this unprecedented crisis, many cultural institutions and professionals have continued to serve as a source of resilience and support to communities, envisioning new strategies to provide access to culture and education in the context of containment measures. UNESCO has launched a study to assess, based on contributions from states and museum professionals, the cumulative impact of COVID-19 on museums and museum-like institutions. This initiative also seeks to understand how the sector has adapted to the constraints imposed by the pandemic and to explore ways of supporting affected institutions in the aftermath of the crisis. According to the survey it is found that museums have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 90% of them, or more than 85,000 institutions worldwide, having closed their doors during the crisis. The effect of these closures is not only economic but also social. Museums play a vital role in our societies, preserving our common heritage; it also provides spaces that promote education, inspiration, and dialogue. Based on values of respect and cultural diversity, museums strengthen social inclusion, promote creativity, and are conveyors of collective memory. Moreover, their role in the promotion of tourism is a key driver of sustainable economic development, both locally and nationally, which will be essential to overcoming the crisis in the coming months and years. The present paper's objective is to highlight how museums revitalize in the times of COVID-19. However, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the sources of revenue. As well as museums have overcome the short-term financial impact of COVID-19 but how they will manage and face the challenges of operating in a post-COVID-19 in the future.
The 43rd International Museum Day 2020, May 18, the theme proposed by ICOM was "Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion", which is an ultimate need of the hour. The topic in itself is a statement on redefining the... more
The 43rd International Museum Day 2020, May 18, the theme proposed by ICOM was "Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion", which is an ultimate need of the hour. The topic in itself is a statement on redefining the important role of museums, being crucial for the future of our society. Museums can play a pivotal role in explaining the notion of equality by pursuing diversity and inclusion within the institutions of art and culture. For this reason, Diversity and Inclusion were paired with Equality. This new and modern concept of museums can be possible only by including concepts of "equal access to all", "equal representation of every group", and "sharing the power of every individual", which unfortunately is not the case presently. The futuristic concept of the museum can help in improving the ability, opportunity and dignity of those groups of people who are disadvantaged on account of their social identity
Museums are the most energy-intensive than other buildings. It is found that museum buildings present high energy demand for air-conditioning due to their architectonical and structural characteristics, such as the presence of large... more
Museums are the most energy-intensive than other buildings. It is found that museum buildings present high energy demand for air-conditioning due to their architectonical and structural characteristics, such as the presence of large exhibition rooms and open spaces. At the same time temperature and humidity have to be strictly controlled to assure proper micro-climate conditions for the conservation of the housed collections and adequate thermal comfort for visitors and personnel. Climate control, lighting and security are some of the crucial factors that play into the effectiveness and success of a museum. Caring about the environment is a natural extension of museum‟s primary role of management for their collections. It would be perverse to preserve evidence of the natural world and human society without regard to the protection of the wider environment. The issue of environmentalism does provide an opportunity for museums to embrace the current fight against climate change with o...
Museums are custodians of natural and cultural heritage. Objects like tribal dresses, headgears, weapons, musical instruments and other ethno-cultural materials housed in museums are prized possession of intellectual and cultural property... more
Museums are custodians of natural and cultural heritage. Objects like tribal dresses, headgears, weapons, musical instruments and other ethno-cultural materials housed in museums are prized possession of intellectual and cultural property of people. Tropical countries like India have a favorable climatic condition for the biological agents of biodeterioration. Organic materials such as leather and parchment objects form substantial part of collections in museums across the world which are promptly infested by insects like dermestid beetles, tenebrionides, silver fishes, cockroaches and other micro-organisms. From the last two to three decades the environmental problems are increases due to the over use of pesticides or other non-decomposing chemicals as well as products. Synthetic products and pesticides are very expensive and also highly toxic for humans and its environment. In order to overcome the above problems, there is urgent need to develop safe, convenient, environmentally f...
It is estimated that there are 900 million insects that come under the category of pests, such as beetles, ants, bees, wasps, flies, moths and butterflies, etc. Pests have been pestering people since ancient times. Historians believe that... more
It is estimated that there are 900 million insects that come under the category of pests, such as beetles, ants, bees, wasps, flies, moths and butterflies, etc. Pests have been pestering people since ancient times. Historians believe that cave dwellers might have used smoke to get rid of mosquitoes. In 2500BC, it is believed that people warded off insects and mites by using sulphur compounds. In 1200BC, the Chinese came up with a revolutionary idea of controlling pests, for instance, they tackle the problem of pests like caterpillars and beetles by using an army of predatory ants. Henceforth, it can be seen that humans have always found several ways to combat the genuine problems of pests, but sometimes we behave imprudently while misapprehending all the insects and other living organisms as pests, which usually we don't like or want around to be. The problem of pests is found everywhere from houses to even heritage sectors. Most of our heritage areas like museums, cultural centers, libraries or, archives have innumerable precious and irreplaceable collections which are persistently at higher risk due to the infestation of pests. To prevent these damages the components of integrated pest management (IPM) program should be materialized with more advance tools and techniques. Consequently, a holistic program should be developed according to the needs of the building and the collections it owns, as well as the variety of activities that take place within the building. This program should be always considered as a process of evolution rather than a revolution.
In recent holocaust year, the COVID-19 crisis has deeply affected societies around the world, declining the global economy into a deep recession. With the majority of cultural institutions forced to close their doors, the museum and... more
In recent holocaust year, the COVID-19 crisis has deeply affected societies around the world, declining the global economy into a deep recession. With the majority of cultural institutions forced to close their doors, the museum and cultural sectors have been most affected. Despite the challenges posed by this unprecedented crisis, many cultural institutions and professionals have continued to serve as a source of resilience and support to communities, envisioning new strategies to provide access to culture and education in the context of containment measures. UNESCO has launched a study to assess, based on contributions from states and museum professionals, the cumulative impact of COVID-19 on museums and museum-like institutions. This initiative also seeks to understand how the sector has adapted to the constraints imposed by the pandemic and to explore ways of supporting affected institutions in the aftermath of the crisis. According to the survey it is found that museums have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 90% of them, or more than 85,000 institutions worldwide, having closed their doors during the crisis. The effect of these closures is not only economic but also social. Museums play a vital role in our societies, preserving our common heritage; it also provides spaces that promote education, inspiration, and dialogue. Based on values of respect and cultural diversity, museums strengthen social inclusion, promote creativity, and are conveyors of collective memory. Moreover, their role in the promotion of tourism is a key driver of sustainable economic development, both locally and nationally, which will be essential to overcoming the crisis in the coming months and years. The present paper's objective is to highlight how museums revitalize in the times of COVID-19. However, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the sources of revenue. As well as museums have overcome the short-term financial impact of COVID-19 but how they will manage and face the challenges of operating in a post-COVID-19 in the future.
Museums are the most energy-intensive than other buildings. It is found that museum buildings present high energy demand for airconditioning due to their architectonical and structural characteristics, such as the presence of large... more
Museums are the most energy-intensive than other buildings. It is found that museum buildings present high energy demand for airconditioning due to their architectonical and structural characteristics, such as the presence of large exhibition rooms and open spaces. At the same time temperature and humidity have to be strictly controlled to assure proper micro-climate conditions for the conservation of the housed collections and adequate thermal comfort for visitors and personnel. Climate control, lighting and security are some of the crucial factors that play into the effectiveness and success of a museum. Caring about the environment is a natural extension of museum"s primary role of management for their collections. It would be perverse to preserve evidence of the natural world and human society without regard to the protection of the wider environment. The issue of environmentalism does provide an opportunity for museums to embrace the current fight against climate change with open arms. "Design", "Build", "Operate Green" seems to be more important now than ever before. Consequently, the museum stewards across the globe are "rethinking" the infrastructure, energy conservation, waste management, and much more to reduce their impact and ensure the global heritage and culture to be well preserved for the generations to come. The objective of paper is about the effective energy management in museums and cultural institutions and the varied methods and tools that can be adopt, to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDG).
The 43rd International Museum Day 2020, May 18, the theme proposed by ICOM was "Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion", which is an ultimate need of the hour. The topic in itself is a statement on redefining the important role of... more
The 43rd International Museum Day 2020, May 18, the theme proposed by ICOM was "Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion", which is an ultimate need of the hour. The topic in itself is a statement on redefining the important role of museums, being crucial for the future of our society. Museums can play a pivotal role in explaining the notion of equality by pursuing diversity and inclusion within the institutions of art and culture. For this reason, Diversity and Inclusion were paired with Equality. This new and modern concept of museums can be possible only by including concepts of "equal access to all", "equal representation of every group", and "sharing the power of every individual", which unfortunately is not the case presently. The futuristic concept of the museum can help in improving the ability, opportunity and dignity of those groups of people who are disadvantaged on account of their social identity
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Stored products pest is refer to organism that infests and damages stored products found organic in nature included both plants and animals origin. Stored product pests are responsible for the severe loss of millions... more
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Stored products pest is refer to organism that infests and damages stored products found organic in nature included both plants and animals origin. Stored product pests are responsible for the severe loss of millions dollars every year through contaminated products, as well as for damage and destruction of important documents, household and heritage artifacts in offices, homes, museums, libraries and archives. Museum collections are severely vulnerable to pest infestation because much of the collection is composed of edible plant material cellulose or animal protein. The organic materials such as skin, leather, bone and parchment objects, form a substantial part of natural history collections of museums across the world, and are promptly infested by stored product pests like dermestid beetles, silver fishes, tenebrionides, clothes moths, psocids, cockroaches and other microorganisms. In order to overcome the problems of biodeterioration, natural biocides should be taken in use. In this paper a comparative study has been shown between the toxicities of Myristica fragrans and Syzygium aromaticum oils with variation as contact and stomach poisons against the larvae of Anthrenus verbasci. Given an application rate in contact case of nutmeg oil LC 90 value is obtained at 19.11 whereas in stomach case LC 90 value is obtained at 16.62. other hand when used with clove oil in contact case LC 90 value is obtained at 8.97, whereas in stomach case LC 90 value is obtained at 4.59 which indicates use of clove oil in both cases of toxicity were much effective.
Pests in a Museum, Library or Archive environment can lead serious damage to highly precious and irreplaceable materials. India is one of the leading countries which possess the largest number of natural history collections. As we all... more
Pests in a Museum, Library or Archive environment can lead serious damage to highly precious and irreplaceable materials. India is one of the leading countries which possess the largest number of natural history collections. As we all know that the organic materials get easily susceptible to deterioration by biodeteriogens like insects, fungi, algae and rodents etc whereas the composition of natural history collections are organic in nature as well. To include the pests and integrated pest management in the bigger framework of risk management, we need to be able to assess the risk of pests to collections. Risk assessment begins with developing a 'risk scenario' that describes what is expected to happen. It describes how a threat comes from a particular source, how it follows a pathway from the source to particular objects, how it affects the objects and what the effect will be in terms of loss of value. This paper introduces the insect scenario scheme, a tool that sketches possible scenarios for insect pests in collections. Furthermore, this paper also aims to focus the next step, regarding the negative effects of some synthetic chemicals on staff, objects and environment. Nowadays there is an increasing pressure to move away from persistent and toxic pesticides to some natural and indigenous method of pest control. Therefore, it is an utmost need for integrating the traditional and natural methods of pest control in the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of museums.
Museums preserve cultural materials of the past for future generations. The natural history collections in museum consist of astonishing richness and full of immense significance. They act as a vital source for primary information on the... more
Museums preserve cultural materials of the past for future generations. The natural history collections in museum consist of astonishing richness and full of immense significance. They act as a vital source for primary information on the diversity of life on earth, for today and for our coming generations. However, in India the different varied temperature and humidity of the tropical climate lead to severe biodeterioration. Insect pests are a major problem for museums, even with repeated treatments for insect control. Due to lack of appropriate and unsafe environments are provided in the collection storage and display, the insect infestation regenerate. Therefore, appropriate plans for prevention and control of biodeterioration in museums are critically important measures. In this paper, repellent activity of Nigella sativa, Syzygium aromaticum and Azadirachta indica essential oils were evaluated at the knockout time of 4 hours against the larvae of Anthrenus verbasci. Dose of 1.25ml/cm 3 of clove essential oil was sufficient for 100% repulsion rate (PR%), whereas in case of blackseed oil and neem oil, at dose of 2ml/cm 3 ,-20% and 50% repulsion rate (PR%) was revealed. The entire experimental set up and the controls were arranged in a laboratory with temperature fluctuating between 25 ± 7ºC and 64 ± 8% RH in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Four replications were conducted for each dose that I have used in this study.
Nowadays, the scope of cultural institutions has expanded much beyond their primary focus, culture and heritage. In the 21st century, the museum's gaze has undergone a paradigm shift. As society has changed, so has the work of museum.... more
Nowadays, the scope of cultural institutions has expanded much beyond their primary focus, culture and heritage. In the 21st century, the museum's gaze has undergone a paradigm shift. As society has changed, so has the work of museum. Today's museums focus is no longer on lifeless objects but on individuals and their place in society. Museums have moved their resources and expertise towards responsible and inclusive social commitments. Museums are increasingly taking on roles like facilitating job training programs, celebrating cultural diversity and awareness, and when we talk about health and wellbeing, museums play a pivotal role in many health care issues. Doctors and researchers are finding out more information about Cancer disease on a day to day basis. For society as a whole, learning more about Cancer can help us to understand what a Cancer sufferer faces. It also helps people to be more informed about their health and wellbeing. Art therapy programs can be easily organized by museums or museum-like institutions with the collaborations of health care institutions. Where, participants usually do not assume any of the costs, because generally such types of art therapy programs are funded by a combination of grants, donations, and hospital budgets.
Museums are custodians of natural and cultural heritage. Objects like tribal dresses, headgears, weapons, musical instruments and other ethno-cultural materials housed in museums are prized possession of intellectual and cultural property... more
Museums are custodians of natural and cultural heritage. Objects like tribal dresses, headgears, weapons, musical instruments and other ethno-cultural materials housed in museums are prized possession of intellectual and cultural property of people. Tropical countries like India have a favorable climatic condition for the biological agents of biodeterioration. Organic materials such as leather and parchment objects form substantial part of collections in museums across the world which are promptly infested by insects like dermestid beetles, tenebrionides, silver fishes, cockroaches and other microorganisms. From the last two to three decades the environmental problems are increases due to the over use of pesticides or other non-decomposing chemicals as well as products. Synthetic products and pesticides are very expensive and also highly toxic for humans and its environment. In order to overcome the above problems, there is urgent need to develop safe, convenient, environmentally friendly and low-cost alternatives. The aim of present study is to evaluate toxicity of nutmeg oil through contact and stomach mechanism against the larvae of Anthrenus verbasci under laboratory conditions (25±29 ºC and 60±68% RH). The mortality data thus obtained in both cases of mechanisms were first subjected to profit analysis using SPSS software and then later the transformed data were used for drawing regression lines graphs between probit mortality and concentration to determine LC 90 values in each cases of test. In contact case LC 90 value is 19.11% whereas in stomach case LC 90 value is obtained at 16.63%.
Museum, libraries, herbaria and archival collections are traditionally depends on chemicals for control and treatment of pest infestation. Insect infestation is a major contributor for biodeterioration of skin and skin products kept in... more
Museum, libraries, herbaria and archival collections are traditionally depends on chemicals for control and treatment of pest infestation. Insect infestation is a major contributor for biodeterioration of skin and skin products kept in warm and humid climates. Therefore, a more sustainable and healthy approaches to this problem is needed to control and prevent infestations. The essential oil from Syzygium aromaticum (clove oil) has a number of bioactive compounds.  This plant represent one of the richest source of phenolic compounds such as eugenol, eugenol acetate and gallic acid and posses great potential for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and agricultural applications. The present work aimed to investigate effects of clove essential oil as on dermestid beetles. To contribute to the development of an integrated strategy of pests associated with the stored animal collections, the insecticidal potential of the essential oil of Syzygium aromaticum was evaluated on larvae of Anthrenus verbasci, which is considered the most destructive insect in the biodeterioration of animal objects in museums and which causes serious damages in invaded areas. Rearing larvae of Anthrenus verbasci and the testing of toxicity were conducted in laboratory conditions in petri dishes at a temperature of 26±2°C, with a relative humidity ranging from 60 to 70%. The method of Finney based on probits regression of mortalities according to the logarithms of essential oil doses allowed us to determine the LC90. The results of these tests showed that the essential oil of Syzygium aromaticum has remarkable insecticidal properties. A comparative study has been done on the basis of LC 90 value of Syzygium aromaticum oil with variation between contact and stomach toxicity mechanism against larvae of Anthrenus verbasci which is clearly shown in regression line graph. After twenty four hours of exposure, they induced 100% of mortality of larvae in both cases of contact and stomach toxicity mechanism at the concentration of 10.0% and 5.0%. The measured LC 90 indicated the value of 8.97μl/cm² and 4.59μl/cm² in contact and stomach case.