traditional ;atbed scanner, the project would have
taken over 20 years, Mr. Waibel says.
Ultimately, no matter how wonderful the technology, museum digitization projects will only earn
executive support if they support museums’ missions without making in-person trips a thing of the
past. When the Getty Research Institute launched
a partnership with the Digital Public Library of
America in 2014 to digitize nearly 100,000 items
from Getty’s special collection, the decision was
made in part because the project would open the
organization’s doors to more visitors.
“When MP3s ;rst came out, the common belief
was that people would stop going to concerts, but
people still go,” Getty CEO Jim Cuno told Penta.
“;ere is every indication that [digital images] will
increase appetites for the real thing.”
“Ten years ago, there was a lot
of skepticism around digital
photography among the curators and
conservation department, but people
were really convinced by the quality that could
be delivered digitally.”
—Cecile van der Harten, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
;e Rijksmuseum has seen that prediction borne
out: It set an attendance record last year, when 25
percent of its collection was freely available online.
Internally, curators and conservators at the
museum eagerly volunteer to have their collections
digitized, Ms. Harten says. “We’re very busy now—
we’re victims of our own success.” —Novid Parsi
FOREST PROTECTORS
In their quest for profits, companies have been
accused of not being able to see the forest for the
trees. But as customers and other stakeholders
increasingly express interest in sustainably produced products, big organizations are paying more
attention to the big picture—and launching projects to protect forests.
In April, fast food giant McDonald’s pledged to
end deforestation in its supply chain by procuring items including beef, ;ber-based packaging,
co;ee and palm oil from sustainable sources. ;e
same month, Yum! Brands, which owns Taco Bell,
KFC and Pizza Hut, announced it will stop using
palm oil obtained through deforestation by the
end of 2017. And consumer products giant Procter
& Gamble has also promised to break its supply
chain’s links to deforestation by 2020.
Making public commitments to reduce deforestation is a good start, but implementing the
projects and setting up measures to track results
is more complicated, says Kerry Cesareo, senior
director of forests, World Wildlife Fund, Washington, D.C., USA. Ms. Cesareo provides technical
help to global corporations aiming for environmentally responsible supply chains for wood and
paper-based products.
“To begin with, the commitment has to be
A palm oil plantation and
pastureland in Honduras
meaningful to the organization, and it has to
translate to policies and practices that will deliver
results,” she says. In 2009, for example, Kimberly-Clark, which produces paper-based consumer
