Today is a May Day with a difference: The Society of American Archivists’ initiative to bring awareness to preserving cultural heritage, MayDay, has come to Australia. Australian groups involved in this initiative are:

Australian National Committee of the Blue Shield
Australian Library and Information Association (representing IFLA)
Australian International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)
Council of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities
International Council on Museums Australian National Committee

MayDay asks you to make sure you are prepared for disaster: whether natural, or caused by war, or destruction. Don’t have a plan? There’s thousands of resources to get started.

This May Day, take the opportunity to familiarise yourself with the work of the International Committee of the Blue Shield, who work to protect cultural heritage around the world and has a working relationship with UNESCO. Their current work focuses on Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Niue.