Internship at NY State Program

New York State Preservation Administrator Internship funded for 3 years.

The New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of
Library Research Materials has awarded $118,850 to support three
professional-level preservation administrator internships over the
course of the next three years.  The interns will be drawn from among
students graduating from library schools in New York State and
librarians of New York State institutions, and will be hosted by three
different libraries.  Each internship will last ten months.

An administrative internship offers an ideal method for librarians to
bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge of preservation and
practical experience.  It differs from classroom education and
on-the-job training in that it combines practical managerial experience
(budgeting, grant writing and administration, personnel) with both
technical training and the essential theoretical background.

The three hosting libraries have well-established preservation programs
which include fully functioning commercial bindery preparation units,
brittle book microfilming preparation units, inhouse repair units, and
disaster preparedness teams.  Further, their preservation officers are
active both regionally and nationally, and can provide a thorough
preservation education on the theoretical and ethical level as well as
the operational level.

    1993-94   New York University
    1994-95   Cornell University
    1995-96   Columbia University

Each internship will naturally be tailored to the specific experience,
needs, and interests of the intern, as well as to what each host has to
offer.  The interns will receive a practical, hands-on grounding in all
of the basic areas of preservation, through a combination of special
projects and direct participation in department operations:

    --  the physical nature of library materials and the ethics of
        preservation and conservation;

    --  principles underlying binding and repair of materials, and
        treatment techniques;

    --  selection strategies and procedures for preparing materials for
        microfilming, and possibly for scanning and other reformatting
        techniques, along with quality control;

    --  design, conduct, and analysis of condition surveys;

    --  environmental monitoring and standards for library and archival
        facilities;

    --  disaster preparedness and response;

    --  educational efforts for staff and patrons;

    --  training in grant writing, budget preparation, personnel, and
        other management skills.

In addition to working with the host institution, the intern will be
provided with money to cover travel expenses to relevant meetings of
professional organizations, seminars, workshops, and other educational
events which enhance the training available at any single institution.

The need for preservation administrators in the state and the nation is
not going to disappear in the near future.  By assisting in the
education of new preservation administrators who can properly manage the
projects which the New York State Conservation/Preservation Program
supports, the state is helping to assure that it will continue to have a
pool of qualified professionals to draw from.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 7:16
                  Distributed: Thursday, July 29, 1993
                        Message Id: cdl-7-16-007
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