Non-Traditional Collections Care Conference Boasts All-Star Speaker Line-Up

Our April 3 online conference, "I’ve Got What in My Library? Caring for Non-Traditional Items," offers a glittering array of renowned speakers in the field of collections care, both traditional and non-traditional items.

There's still time to register! Go to the conference registration page. Remember, Amigos' online conferences are free to Amigos members.

Ellen Dickman and Christina Prucha, Logan University, Chesterfield, MO, open the conference with "Dem Bags of Bones!" Dickman is the Director for the Learning Resource Center at Logan University. Prucha is the Cataloger/Archivist at Logan, responsible for original and copy cataloging of all new materials, including traditional materials such as books, eBooks, and media and other lesser traditional items such as plastic bones and models and the occasional real bone or preserved organ.

Scott W. Devine, Marie A. Quinlan Director of Preservation and Conservation at Northwestern University Library, Evanston, IL, follows with "Objects Conservation in Library and Archival Collections: New Opportunities for Preservation and Access." He will present a series of conservation treatment case studies highlighting issues involved in managing a wide range of unique objects from the library’s collection.

Danielle Cunniff Plumer will present "Like," "Share," "Save": Ensuring Long Term Access to Social Media." Plumer is a digital collections consultant working with cultural heritage institutions interested in putting their collections online. She has taught courses on metadata, digitization, and digital preservation and curation for the College of Information at the University of North Texas and for the School of Information at The University of Texas at Austin, and frequently leads workshops on topics ranging from metadata to grant writing.

Angela Andres & Laura McCann, Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department of New York University Libraries, will present "Conserving Complex Late 20th Century Objects from Artists' Archives." Andres, the library's Conservation Technician, will describe practical aspects of creating housings that facilitate use for complex art objects, including specific tips on materials and techniques. Conservation Librarian McCann will speak on the process of planning care for late 20th Century complex objects.

Nora Lockshin, Paper Conservator at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, DC, will present "But Is It Archival? Plastics in Archives and Libraries." Among the unique items Lockshin has consulted on and treated are a taxidermied bird and an outrigger canoe.

Steven Kantner, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Information who is active in audio preservation activities, will present "Caring for Open Reel Audiotape: Identification and Issues." Kantner says knowing what you have, what to look for, and how to handle certain materials can save a collection from many problems, extend the materials' life, and help you make informed decisions for the transfer of the materials to a new format.

"What a Little Twill Tape Can Do: Creating Containers for Artists Books, Fencing Foils and Python Skins" is the intriguing title of Julia Merkel's presentation. Merkel is the Preservation Officer for James Madison University Libraries, Harrisonburg, VA. Several unusual items have come thru the library’s preservation office for stabilization and re-housing in recent years, including a 12-foot python skin.

John Sandstrom, Associate Professor and Acquisitions Librarian at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, will discuss the "Care and Feeding of Hand-woven Textiles." Sandstrom has over 25 years' experience in academic, public, and special libraries. He has been weaving and spinning for seven years, studying Navajo weaving and maintaining his own collection of hand-woven textiles.

"Preserving Community Oral Histories on Audiocassette, Microcassette, VHS, and Other Media" is the title of the presentation by Lauren Goodley, an archivist at the Southwestern Writers Collection at the Wittliff Collections, Texas State University, San Marcos. Her duties include developing and implementing a digital preservation program for the archives. The Wittliff Collections contain a substantial amount of audiovisual materials, including interviews, which are being reformatted to digital.

Amigos' own Bill Walker will present "Digital Preservation@ Your Library: You Can Do It!" Walker is the metadata and digitization expert at Amigos. His courses cover all aspects of digital projects and metadata, including cataloging and RDA. His presentation will outline simple ways for libraries of all sizes to take small steps to improve the survivability of their digital assets.