ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Preservation News

Jane Hedberg

Rutgers preservation institute

The School of Communication, Information and Library Science (SOLS) at Rutgers University is again offering its “Preservation Management Institute” at the University Inn and Conference Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey. This institute will provide a broad understanding of preservation issues for professionals working in libraries and archives. The curriculum covers environmental conditions, collections care and storage, preservation surveys, audiovisual materials, exhibitions, selection for preservation, library binding, disaster preparedness planning, digital imaging policies and planning, fundraising, and grantwriting.

The 15-day institute is divided into three five-day segments over the course of a year, meeting October 28-November 1, 2002, April 7-11, 2003, and September 15-19, 2003- The faculty is led by Evelyn Frangakis and includes a number of guest lecturers.

Registration costs $3,995 and includes class instruction, course materials, and field trips, plus lunches and coffee breaks on class days. Enrollment is limited. Payments may be made over two fiscal years. For more information, contact Karen Novick, Professional Development Studies, SCLIS, Rutgers University, 4 Huntington St., New Brunswick, NJ 08901- 1071; phone: (732) 932-7169; fax: (732) 932- 9314; e-mail: pds@scils.rutgers.edu; Web: http://scils.rutgers.edu/pds/pmi. jsp.

CCAHA disaster preparedness workshops

The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) will hold a series of three one-day workshops titled “Disaster Mitigation for Cultural Collections” on June 25-27, 2002, at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in Manhattan. The first workshop is “Be Prepared . . . Conducting a Vulnerability Assessment,” the second is “Be Prepared . . . Assessing Health and Safety Risks,” and the third is “Be Prepared . . . Mitigating Fire and Security Risks.”

Registration for one workshop is $60, two workshops is $120, and three workshops is

$170. Discounts are available for members of CCAHA, the Archivists Roundtable of Metropolitan New York, the Museum Association of New York, the New York Library Club, and the Special Libraries Association’s New York Chapter. For more information, contact Preservation Services, CCAHA, 264 South 23rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103; phone: (215) 545-0613; fax: (215) 735-9313; e-mail: ccaha@ccaha.org; Web: http://www.ccaha. org.

Conservation-quality polyester film

Two of the best-known brands of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, DuPont’s Mylar D and Id’s Mellinex 516, are no longer in production by the manufacturers. The Preservation Research and Testing Division of the Library of Congress (LC) has begun testing alternative products for use in LC’s conservation operations and is reporting the results on the LC Web site. So far, they have identified Hostaphan 43SM, made by Mitsubishi Polyester Film, L.L.C. of Greer, South Carolina, as an acceptable substitute.

For more information about the LC research, visit http://www.loc.gov/preserv/. For more information about Mitusubishi Polyester Film, visit http://www.m-petfilm.com/.

What is valued

Miriam Clavir, senior conservator in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, is the author of Presewing What Is Valued: Museums, Conservation, and First Nations. Although written in the very specific context of museums and First Nations cultural materials, this book wrestles with the issue that is at the heart of all preservation: just what should we preserve? Is it possible to reconcile preservation of the physical, conceptual, and intellectual integrity of an object?

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Jane Hedberg is preservation program officer at Harvard University Library, e-mail: jane_hedberg@harvard.edu; fax: (617) 496-8344 Copies of this book are available for $95 from the University of Washington Press, P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA, 98145-5096; phone: (800) 441-4115; toll-free fax: (800) 669-7993; e-mail: uwpord@u.washington.edu; Web: http://www.washington.edu/uwpress; ISBN: 0774808608. ■