Heratio Help Center article. Category: Collection Mgmt.

Race Against Loss User Guide

Overview

Race Against Loss is an at-risk register and public board that tracks which collection items most urgently need to be captured before they deteriorate or disappear. Material that is fragile, degrading, or otherwise threatened is ranked by capture priority and moved through a capture queue, so effort goes where the risk is highest. A public board at /race-against-loss shows progress openly, turning preservation into a shared, visible mission. Open it at /race-against-loss.

What it does

Race Against Loss makes preservation urgency explicit and trackable:

• It maintains an at-risk register of items judged to be in danger of loss or degradation.
• It assigns each item a capture priority, so the most urgent material rises to the top.
• It runs a capture queue workflow, moving items from identified, through queued and in-progress, to captured.
• It presents a public board at /race-against-loss, so supporters and the public can see what is at risk and watch progress as items are saved.

The result is a clear, motivating picture of what still needs doing and what has already been rescued.

How to use it

1. Go to /race-against-loss to see the public board - the at-risk items and how the capture effort is progressing.
2. Review the priority ranking to understand which items are most urgent and why they have been flagged.
3. Follow an item through the capture queue as it moves from identified, to queued, to in-progress, to captured.
4. Staff working through the queue pick up the highest-priority items first, capture them, and mark them complete so the board updates.
5. Use the board to report progress to stakeholders and to rally support for the work that remains.

Good to know

• Priority reflects risk of loss, not the historical importance of an item alone - a modest item that is rapidly degrading can outrank a robust one.
• The public board is a transparency and advocacy tool: it shows the mission and its momentum without exposing anything that should stay restricted.
• The queue is a working list. As condition changes or new threats emerge, items can be re-prioritised, and the board reflects the current state.
• Marking an item captured records that it has been digitised or otherwise secured; it does not by itself change the item's catalogue description.