Preservation Week at the Library of Congress starts April 29th and it’s one of our favorite times of the year! The trees are blooming and it’s time for the Preservation Directorate to fling open our (virtual) doors and welcome you inside. We see Preservation Week as our opportunity to draw back the curtain and let you see what happens behind the scenes.
Preservation Week is an initiative of the Association of Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Every year, collecting institutions across the country put on events that highlight the preservation work they do. These events provide insight to any topic from professional preservation practices such as environmental monitoring or conservation, as well as smaller scale preservation projects, like preserving family photographs and scrapbooks. This year the official Preservation Week is scheduled for April 28th through May 4th and there are several institutions participating and providing free presentations. You should also check in with your favorite local library, archive, or museum and see if they are offering programing that week.
This year the Library of Congress is presenting four webinars featuring preservation work at the Library. We are starting the week off by looking at various imaging techniques utilized by Preservation Research and Testing used uncover secrets in the manuscripts of our founding fathers. On Tuesday, we will be talking about the complicated treatment of one of Paul Rudolph’s architectural models. Wednesday, we will discuss how the Library executes our quality assessment program to test all materials that collections come into contact with. On Thursday, two conservators will present on treatment projects they are currently working on. If any of these pique your interest, you can find the complete descriptions and registration links on our Preservation Week webpage. As an added bonus, we have past recordings available on the same page.
It’s shaping up to be an exciting week this year, hope to see you there!
All Library of Congress Preservation Week webinars will be recorded and posted on our website, this process usually takes about a month. You can find all our past recordings here.
Please request ADA accommodations at least five business days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or [email protected].
Comments (2)
I can’t wait! My picture book, THE MUD ANGELS: HOW STUDENTS SAVED THE CITY OF FLORENCE just launched! It is about the Arno flood of 1966 and how students from around the world came together to help save Florence’s rare antiquities. (It is also the first English-language children’s book to share this important moment in environmental and conservation history). Former Conservator for LOC, Peter Waters, led a team of international experts and came up with a nine-phase plan of how museums and libraries should approach repairs after a devastating event, like the Arno flood (as you know, it is still used today!).
Thank you so much for keeping that important piece of history alive! For many of our staff, learning about the 1966 Arno flood and the subsequent conservation efforts was their first introduction to this field.