Preservation (library and Archival Science) - Education

Education

One of the biggest challenges in the field of preservation today is educating a library's community, especially librarians and other staff, in the best ways to handle materials as well as the conditions in which particular materials will decay the least. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that preservation is a peripheral element of most library science curricula; indeed, there are few places where one can receive a specialized education in preservation.

One of the primary degree granting institutions for library and archival preservation is the University of Texas at Austin's School of Information Science. The conservation and preservation program is offered in partnership with the Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record and trains both conservators and preservation administrators. There are a number of other preservation administration programs in the United States including the University of Michigan School of Information which specializes in digital preservation management. Recently the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has funded a number of digital curation education programs around the United States, including at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Digital curation includes the activity of digital preservation management.

Other conservation programs in the United States focus on Art Conservation and are considered to be more museum focused than library focused. These programs are all part of the Association of North American Graduate Programs in the Conservation of Cultural Property (ANAGPIC).

The Rutgers Preservation Management Institute provides post-graduate training in preservation administration for working librarians who have already completed a Master's degree. UT Austin also offers certificates of advanced study in conservation and preservation to librarians who already hold their MLS.

Another educational resource available to preservationists is the Northeast Document Conservation Center or NEDCC. This institution was founded in 1973 as a reaction to the growing problem of paper deterioration occurring in repositories in the New England area. The Center provides institutions and organizations, as well as librarians, conservators, preservationists, and museum professionals, with help in learning proper care and procedures to better preserve the integrity of their collections. The institution provides a variety of services such as imaging, surveys and consultations, and digitation. They also assist with disaster planning. The educational opportunities it provides include provision of workshops, conferences, and specialized trainings. Additional online courses are also available. For instance, some of the workshops offered by the NEDCC include: Basic Preservation, Collections Care, Emergency Preparedness, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Identification and Care of Photographs, Basic and Intermediate Book Repair, Basic Paper Repair, Preservation of Scrapbooks, Preservation Technologies, Holdings Maintenance, Creating and Maintaining Digital Collections, Scanning Training, and Grant Writing. Additionally, the NEDCC is responsible for the creation of a Preservation Education Curriculum, which has been made available online to serve as an instructional aid for introductory preservation courses taught at Library and Information Science schools.

Additional preservation education is available to librarians through various professional organizations, such as:

  • American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
  • American Library Association
  • Amigos Library Services Preservation Service
  • Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM)
  • Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC)
  • Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA)
  • Buffalo State College. Art Conservation Department, Buffalo, NY
  • Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies, Mount Carroll, IL.
  • George Eastman House. School of Film & Video Preservation Rochester, NY
  • The Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record
  • Library Binding Institute
  • New York University. Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York, NY
  • North Bennet Street School. Boston, MA
  • Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)
  • The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia, PA
  • Queen's University. Master of Art Conservation Program, Ont, Canada
  • Rare Book School (RBS) at the University of Virginia
  • Society of American Archivists
  • LYRASIS
  • University of Delaware. Winterthur Art Conservation Program, Newark, DE
  • The National Archives

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