The most frequent objects that the public usually associates with conservation-restoration are probably a scalpel and a brush. But nowadays our field is far away from previous empirical times, being supported by a series of scientific disciplines that allow the conservator-restorer to plan the best possible intervention. These last decades have been dominated by a series of technological advances in the widest possible areas, including computer technology, turning our days into the ‘Information Age’. In fact, computers are present in most of the fields that complement conservation-restoration today, such as, for example, analytical chemistry, environmental sciences, etc. Computer technology, however, is still almost absent from the conservation process. Of course in almost every workshop there is at least one computer but its function is not directly related to conservation: it is mostly used for internet browsing and Office-type or image editing software, isn’t it?

Within this panorama, the need for specific software for conservation-restoration becomes obvious. I cannot say, honestly, that creating or adapting software for our professional use has not already been attempted, however its absence from our work does not in the least surprise me. Besides the fact that our options are very limited, there may be various reasons for this, such as the poor level of programming, lack of scalability, non-user friendly interface or limited features.

Software industry is a multi-billion dollar business worldwide. Most of it is monopolized either by giant companies who make software for other giant companies or directly for home-users, or by small companies for niche markets. Thus, the lack of well-known specific software for conservation is either because there are no ‘giant’ conservation-restoration companies or because our ‘niche’ was never considered a very fruitious market.

In this perspective, for example, museums and libraries have been much more prolific, as it is relatively easy to find specific, even open source software for these fields. One of the main concerns of institutions worldwide is to digitalize records in order to safeguard and organise their collections. Thus, collection management software is an indispensable tool. Comparable software for conservation would be one to manage the important and unique documentation of our projects. All those records that we produce for each individual intervention could profit enormously from specific management software. So why are we behind so many other fields of equal importance? There are several reasons that I can think of, among which the lack of data standards, low economic importance or even disinterest.

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