UNESCO raises awareness among university students of the importance of preserving documentary heritage

As part of its mandate, UNESCO launched the Memory of the World (MoW) Program in 1992 with the aim of preserving and ensuring universal access to the collective memory of peoples. This programhas been dedicated to the preservation ofarchives and collections throughout the world. However, access to documentary heritage is currently being affected by the increasing frequencyand intensity of disasters, whichcan cause serious orirreparable damage to documentsand manuscripts.

In response to this situation, UNESCO, together with the National Memory of the World Committee ofCosta Rica, and with the support of the University ofCosta Rica (UCR), organized an informationand awareness-raising event on the importance of conservingand preserving documentaryand audiovisual heritage on July17 at the UCR's Faculty of Education. The event served to sensitize about35 people on the importance of preservingdocumentary and audiovisual heritage. With this activity important inputs were collected for the thematic planning of future awareness days, and interest was identified in the university community to form a volunteer program aimed at the protection of documentary heritage.

This activity was aimed at students from the following majors: Archival Science, History, Library Science, Anthropology, Computer Science and Informatics, Collective Communication Sciences, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Biology, Plastic Arts and Graphic Design. A panel of experts dedicated to the preservation of documentary heritage also participated and offered their valuable knowledge to all participants.