The ICEFAT Green Committee is proud to announce that it has been invited to make a presentation at the European Registrars Conference (ERC) in Amsterdam later this year.

The Sub-Committee has already commenced working on their presentation – bringing together the information presented to ICEFAT Members in Cape Town last year, along with a number of new initiatives that have arisen from that presentation.

The Netherlands Registrars Group (NRG) is organizing the 7th European Registrars Conference which will be held in Amsterdam on the 8th and 9th of November 2010.

The European Registrars Conference is held every two years with an audience of national and international Museum professionals and partners. It deals with all aspects of
collection management and there are usually around 450 delegates at the Conference.

This year the theme is Bein’ Green - a theme taken from a 1970’s song, performed by Kermit the Frog, which not only refers to environmental sustainability but also to the courage it takes to be different. Museums, galleries and their partners can invent their own perfect solutions to collection management matters, but they must do this in conjunction with finding a path to surviving the flood of rules and regulations with which they have to abide.

The ICEFAT Green committee will be presenting information on our efforts at Bein’ Green with regards to the transportation side of the industry. ICEFAT’s Green efforts range from looking at the use of alternate fuels and sustainable packing materials through to encouraging the paperless office.

We are excited to have this opportunity to combine our efforts with the Museum community and are looking forward to a great conference in Amsterdam this November. For more details please go to www.erc2010.nl

Greg G Gahagan
Environmental Sub-Committee Chair

GREEN POINT

Who has extra space t hese days to store a ready supply of good travel cases for retro-fitting in a pinch? The few of us who can spare some square meters might want to create a database with internal and external dimensions and case type on hand. I had a recent conversation with a museum registrar about their supply of quality used cases. She mentioned that although the crates were perfectly re-usable, the neoprene gasket and interior foam were much deteriorated. They are now in the practice of stripping these components and sourcing recycling centers for the debris. Now, when a travelling show comes around, they search their database to find likely candidates in their inventory. The museum saves by not having to build new cases and they give the planet a little break at the same time.

Jonathan Schwartz
Environmental Sub-Committee