Funding sources for conservation

The library collections of the San Diego Natural History Museum
constitute one of the oldest scientific libraries west of the
Mississippi. Because this library is located in and has primarily been
used by the natural history community, awareness of potential funding
sources for conservation and preservation needs outside traditional
scientific funding agencies (e.g. NSF) has been low and many needs have
not been met. The library holds over 74,000 catalogued book and
periodicals. Many of the books are over 100 years old. In the Klauber
Collection of rare natural history works, the oldest volume dates from
1514. The library also holds holographic scientific material and
institutional and research archives.

I am working with the librarian to put together a comprehensive plan for
funding priorities. Very little has been done to date. A baseline for
assessing preventive conservation needs (environmental and pest
monitoring, etc.) has been started as part of an IMS grant. What I need
at this point is information on any/all possible funding sources for
conservation (including storage upgrades at any level, from phase boxes
to compactor systems), information/database automation and upgrades
(including effective network linkups), and professional
conservation/repairs. I am familiar with many of the funding sources for
museums and systematics collections, but need information for library,
historical collection, and archives sources. As we are now drafting a
long-range conservation plan for all our collections, an educated
awareness of the variety of sources out there would be most timely for
everyone I work with. Thanks in advance for any help provided.

Sally Shelton
Collections Conservation Specialist
San Diego Natural History Museum

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                   Conservation DistList Instance 8:1
                   Distributed: Monday, June 13, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-8-1-011
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