The document discusses heritage policy and cooperation in Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands. [1] It notes the town has 100,000 inhabitants and 20 historical societies with 2,000 members in the border region of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. [2] It proposes establishing a Strategic Heritage Council to coordinate resources and projects between archives, museums, libraries, and historical associations. [3] The council would focus on shared goals like digitization and presenting collections online through a heritage portal.

1. Heritage-policy in Sittard-Geleen
in context:
Together stronger!
Peer Boselie
Director Euregionaal Historisch Centrum Sittard-Geleen
(Netherlands-Limburg) 1
www.ehc.sittard-geleen.nl

2. Erfgoed-eXtra
‘Volunteers and civic society,
the road to a strategic heritage council’
Sittard-Geleen is a town of 100.00 inhabitants.
20 historical societies with ca 2000 members.
In the region (the border-region of the Netherlands,
Belgium and Germany) at about 250.000 people.
Interesting : the fact that Europe in our region is
always very nearby. (3 Euregions)
Cooperation shows the relativity of borders
throughout history.
In this way we work constantly to encourage more
understanding between people. 2

3. 3

4. Developments in the archival setting
 Our Archives ca 9 fte, +/- 35 volunteers (ca 8 fte)
 +/- 3.000 ‘live’visits from researchers per year,
 More ‘clustering’ of municipal and regional archives (‘archives
with addes value’) Sittard-Geleen, Stein, Beek, Schinnen…
 Archives more external: show the world what we have!
 Coöperation is the the basis
 Very strong digitization (e.g. In our archives +/- 400.000 scans
online.This year +/- 3 million search actions and at about 5
million page views in website)
(in 2009: in total 30.000 search actions, 2010 > 1 million)
www.ehc.sittard-geleen.eu
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5. Developments in Museums
 The Museum has ca 25.000 visitors
per year
 A lot more interaction with the
visitors
 Making exhibitions together with the
partners: archives, library, historical
associations. Our region more then once a
good practice…
 Digitization also here an opportunity
when original object gets more and better
attention (more context) 5

6. Developments in Libraries
 The Library has at about 300.000 visitors
per year
 A lot more interaction with the clients
 More and more digital information, less books
 Coöperation with other heritage-institutions,
but also schools, book-shops, rest-homes etcetera
 Low-profile information in a ‘heritage-point’ (in cooperation
with archives, museum and historical associations)
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7. Developments within historical associations
 The historical associations (totally ca 30) have ca 2500
members and ca 150 to 200 volunteers that are the ´core´.
 Volunteers, from amateurs to almost full-time professionals
 Need to be taken serious
 Centres of knowledge and thus worth a certain amount of
money
 Also here strong digitization, but not always well done,
lots of different formats…
 Crucial to obtain added value for professional
institutions (and the other way around…)
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8. Duties of the Archives,
Musea and Library
- Presentation-function (analogue ánd digitally)
- Platformfunction (ca 30 associations in the
region)
- Hinge between old and new (‘lubricating oil’) rather a
debate then a collision
- Cooperation (in projects and
structurally)
- Facilitating (meetings, logistics…)
- Educational programme (symposia, presentations,
publications, (mobile) 8
internet

9. State of affairs
-2001 Merger of Sittard, Geleen and Born.
-Doubling the meters of archival information,
-Reorientation of the Museum,
-first historical CD-Rom with texts, images and film
-2002 first Euregional project concerning
The historian Jacob Kritzraedt, putting cooperation
central in the project
9

10. State of affairs
-2003 national Dutch pilot history of living: digital ‘cultural
biografy (look at google: ‘Claustrum ’ ). About 10 people (volunteers)
build it in 3 months by means of a Content ManagementSystem (also
build by volunteers) http://www.historiesittard.nl/kapittel/
-2005… Erection of the historical federation, cooperation of 20
historical associations in the city, (more then 30 in the Euregion):
Mutual assistance, facility-management, IT-solutions. Initiated by and
working together with the archives.
Annually all kinds of activities, e.g.
dinner-symposia, week/month of
history, day of the archives, day of
open monuments, books, sites. Working
together with highschools and
university
10

11. State of affairs
-2007… Development of PDA/walks (together with
schoolchildren)
-2008 TVDocu-drama related to excavations of a cemetery
of Napoleontic soldiers, even the consul de France visited…
http://www.expeditielimburg.eu
-2009… Start development site Archives as Heritage-
portal and development Heritage-point (in the Library)
cooperation of Archives, Library, Museum and historical
society = making history interactive
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12. -2010… Start of the Aezelprojek: interactive offspin of
history of living; history of living (buildings) and history of
people (genealogy) combined www.aezelprojek.nl
-2011… Heritage-point is opened
-Analogue historical ‘production’: Each year average
of 4 to 6 historical books, 24 historical magazines, 3
symposia, 25 historical lessons (ca 100 people
attending) in Sittard-Geleen alone
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13. 2011, interim-score…
This is what Archives, Museum, Library
ánd historical associations want:
-Digitization of the collections and presenting it in cooperation
in context
-Continue to develop the Website of the Euregionaal
Historisch Centrum as Heritage-portal for our part of the
Euregion: more archival-, museum-, archeological, monumental
sources. More interactivity…
-History with the focus on history of living and people, from
archeology till now, using the semantic web
-Continue cooperation with partners in the region and
highschools and university s of Maastricht and Delft/Eindhoven:
synergy on the terrain of research and education
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14. What did we develop to do this:
Erfgoed eXtra
(Heritage-eXtra)
innovative concept for cooperation in
(Eu)regional setting…

15. Institutions involved
in Erfgoed-eXtra:
* Archives
* Museums
* Libraries
* Historical associations
* and: everybody else…
In the border-region of the Netherlands Limburg, in
Belgium (Maasland) and Germany (Kreis Heinsberg)
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And in the rest of the world….

16. Three main items
A) Strategic Heritage Council
B) Mutual assistance and support
services
c) Formats must be the same
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17. Three main items
A) Strategic Heritage Council
B) Mutual assistance and support
services
c) Formats must be the same
S ave
My
F uture
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18. A) Strategic Heritage Council
Composition:
* Director EHC / Town-/ municipal archivist
* Curators of Historical and Archeological
Museums in (our part of) the (Eu)region
* Municipal Archeologists
* Employee for the Monuments
* Heritage-employee Library
* Delegation of the Historical federations
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19. What´s the aim:
 Synchronise the resources for the shared projects,
financially and related to people
 Focusing at the realisation of the main targets
 Signalling in an early stage developments and main
historical events and mile-stones (look forward for 10
years, gives also financial opportunities)
 Communication with participating organisations and
related initiatives, also over the borders… (internal
communication)
 Communicating strategically (PR, external communication)
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20. Examples of ongoing projects
 Projects / activities / developments Who involved Planning
• 1 . Exposities musea Domein en andere musea / EHC /
BiblioNova /Federatie / HzG /
Maasketen Continue
 2. Erfgoedpunt(en) Biblionova/EHC/Domein/federatie/HzG
 3. digitaliseringsprojecten allen (middels formats), verduurzaming via
EHC
 4. Belangenbehartiging monumentenzorg Federatie / HzG Continue
 5. Belangrijke data / Historische mijlpalen allen in 2011 conceptlijst maken
 6. Internationale samenwerking historie algemeen: EHC/Domein en andere musea /
Federatie/Biblionova/HzG/Maasketen
 7. Maand van de Geschiedenis Federatie / EHC / Domein / Biblionova
Jaarlijks
 8. Historische infopagina media EHC / Federatie / HzG, Onregelmatig
 9. Alden Biesen en Geleen/Huyn Federatie / EHC / HzG / musea 2013?
 10. Mogelijke projecten adel / mottekastelen / refugiekloosters allen
 11.Aezelprojek Stuurgroep en werkgroep Aezel/EHC/allen
 12. Monumentenboek Sittard-Geleen Fedaratie/MEG/SCHUG,Timmers/EHC/
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21. B) Mutual assistance and
support services
Archives and Library lend equipment (scanner / laptop / audio /
equipment…) to organisations and advise about use of it
Organisations (historical or other) scan photo’s, determine the
objects etc
Scans (or audio etc) land in the database and
website of the archives
Images also land in the website of Museum,
Heritage/point )Library) and the historical societies
In the archives all digital content will be kept and
guarded durable and for free…
The Outcome: win/win/win… 21

22. C) Formats need to be the same
Formats (simple but correct!) are developed
for …
-Image (photo s, slides, negatives, postcards etc)
-Sound
-Moving images (video, film) together with the film
institution > Limburgs Museum (a tin of happiness)
-(museum) Objects
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23. Points of interest
Agreement concerning the formats
Agreement about your own identity (or identities…!)
Possibility of a codicil of a will (and agreement…)
No macho` behaviour!: cooperation is keyword!!
Communication-PR
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24. What is the result of this cooperation (exept for a
logo that gives a mutual ‘face’ to our cooperation):
Let’s look at one of the projects:
Aezel-projek
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25. A fast growing site, started in Sittard, but fast growing at the moment.
Being filled at this moment by more than 60 people, adding each month
tenths of thousands of facts about houses and people: Aezel-projek is:
Interesting for the public, challenging for creative industry, important
for the civil servants (archeologie, law-enforcement, historical
background-info, pollution-areas etc..)
momentarily still ‘behind the screen’but in a few months ‘live’
http://www.aezelprojek.nl/
Keywords:
low-budget
participation
from people to structures, not the other way around
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32. Hier logo erfgoed-eXtra…
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33. Hier logo erfgoed-eXtra…
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