book

Training Opportunities

for Latin American Conservators



Training opportunities are scarce for conservation professionals in Latin American libraries and archives. Many employees will receive no more than on-the-job training from a supervisor. As far as I know, there are no Latin American formalized book conservation training programs, although a number of regional workshop series exist. In addition, some international and United States organizations fund overseas training for Latin Americans.

A rather paltry list of information on training opportunities that can be accessed via the Internet follows:

ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property): International programs that focus on training professionals to implement new conservation skills in their home countries. ICCROM links are in English and French.

Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico: Ten semester program in "document science," with at least three classes in conservation and binding.

Library Fellows Program: A joint effort between the United States Information Agency and the American Library Association, this program provides both U.S. librarians a chance to work overseas and allows non-U.S. librarians to study in the United States.

Preservation Educators' Exchange: Provides resources on preservation education. Claims to be "worldwide," yet focus is on the USA. Also maintains an electr onic listserv named "PRESED-L." To subscribe, e-mail listserv@uicvm.uic.edu  and type "subscribe PRESED-L Your Name."

Universidad de Salamanca, Spain: University course on "restauración de libros." Also a course offered in documents conservation. While not located in Latin America, at least this instruction is in Spanish!

While not a source for training, an excellent article by Suzanne Deal Booth appeared in the May 1991 edition of the WAAC Newsletter. Entitled "Conservation Training in Latin America," it outlines funding sources for training and new developments in the region. Highly recommended.


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Please send comments to wbaker@fiat.gslis.utexas.edu.
Last updated June 21, 1997.

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