Mercy International Association Has Chosen Preservica

Mercy International Association Ltd (MIA), the organisation of Mercy congregations, institutes and federations throughout the world, has chosen Preservica Ltd cloud-hosted active digital preservation platform to protect and provide access to its digitised and born-digital artefacts.

MIA is the most extensive collaboration rising from the religious institute Sisters of Mercy, founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. Their heritage team provides oversight for MIA artefacts and archives currently held at Mercy International Centre in Dublin, linked to more than 190 years of charitable work.

Highlights of the collection held at Mercy International Centre are artefacts associated with Catherine McAuley. These include personal letters, items of memorabilia, and a number of gifts received from friends and benefactors. Special items are on permanent loan to the Mercy International Centre, including Catherine McAuley’s profession ring and cincture. The heritage team will use Preservica to safeguard digitised images of these items, ensuring they are accessible to view worldwide and available for future generations.

2019 also marks the 25th anniversary of the MIA’s foundation, and the Association plans to digitise and host a large online exhibition to be made available to the general public. Active digital preservation and access solution will allow much of the association’s cultural heritage to be made readily accessible for the first time.

Anna Nicholls, head of heritage and spirituality, MIA, commented: “We want to make our work visible to everyone involved with MIA, from the occasional volunteers to the CEOs of large Mercy organisations, and most importantly, the public. In 2017 we had 8,500 visitors to Mercy International Centre in Dublin, but globally we have half a million engaged individuals. Our current archiving system is not fit for purpose; we are simply storing digitised and born-digital items on local servers, and have a large amount of hard to access paper files.“

“After a competitive tender process, Preservica’s active digital preservation solution was chosen due to its impressive ease of use, integrated access portal and wide range of capabilities. These will allow us to create a living and accessible archive, by flexibly managing and enriching our digital collection over time. With Preservica, we can confidently transform our current physical archive into a globally-accessible digital resource.“

Mike Quinn, CEO, Preservica, added: “It’s a privilege to have been chosen by MIA to safeguard digital artefacts of huge cultural and spiritual significance. As the association approaches its 25th anniversary, we’re pleased to be supporting their work to protect these unique artefacts accessible online and protected for future generations.“