Resources

A selection of guides, videos, blogs, directories and other educational content that will assist you in preserving your collections and in making informed decisions about caring for different formats and materials, from paper to photos to AV media and three dimensional objects.

Preservation Guides and Information

Northeast Document Conservation Center offers a wide variety of educational resources and advice on caring for and storing collections. It also offers ideas for interventions for specific issues.

  • Preservation Leaflets – Overview and instructions about storage environment, handling material, digitizing, and emergency preparedness. Many are focused on paper and photos but some touch on books and works of art on paper as well.
  • Preservation 101 – Online textbook with detailed information, created to accompany a series of webinars conducted by NEDCC.
  • Videos – A selection of free training videos available on NEDCC YouTube channel.

National Park Service Conserve-o-grams – informational pamphlets focused on objects and 3D materials.

The California Preservation Program was a program of the California State Library to offer preservation and disaster preparedness education around the state and help in preservation activities.

  • A disaster plan template and planning resources
  • Webinar on digital preservation
  • Four part webinar series on preservation best practices discussing facilities; environmental management; collection handling, storage and exhibition; and planning and prioritizing.

Connecting to Collections Care offers webinars, courses and a community discussion group centered on caring for collections and facilities of small and medium sized institutions. Many recorded videos are available for free in the archives.

For recorded media – this guide from the University of Illinois has descriptions of many media formats along with photos to aid in identification. It also describes proper storage and handling.

Poison Book Project – Overview and in depth instructions about what to do if you encounter Victorian-era toxic pigment in bookcloth.

Paper Conservation – Video from a conservator at LACMA about the chemistry of paper making and how you can repair a paper loss in your own collection.

If you are in need of professional conservation services, The American Institute for Conservation hosts a Find a Conservator database that can be searched by specialty and geographic location.

Disaster and Emergency Preparedness, Response, Recovery

The Library of Congress Emergency Management webpage has points to guide you as you think through your particular facilities and location risks and identify most at-risk or valuable collections.

The California Preservation Program offers extensive emergency response resources.

Connecting to Collections Care has a series of four webinars and accompanying handouts that cover the steps necessary creating a disaster response plan.

dPlan offers a free, online fill-in-the-blank disaster plan template that can be saved and printed as a text file.

The Library of Congress offers guidance on what to do when collections get wet.