Rare Book School 1998--addendum

It has come to my attention that another of our RBS courses should
have been announced to the readers of the Conservation DistList

Books at Virginia: Rare Book School 1998 (RBS): Rare Book School is
pleased to announce its schedule of courses for the summer of 1998,
26 five-day non-credit courses of bookish interest to be offered on
the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, 13
July - 7 August. Tuition per course for RBS 1998 Summer Session is
$595.  Applications may be requested via the contact information at
the end of this message. The complete brochure and Expanded Course
Descriptions are available at our Web site:
<URL:http://poe.acc.virginia.edu/~oldbooks>

Readers of the Conservation DistList may find the course described
below to be of particular interest:

45 Non-Book Media in Special Collections. This course is aimed at
rare book, preservation, and manuscript and archives generalists, as
well as at other professionals who are currently (or shortly will
be) responsible for the physical care and perpetuation of a broad
range of non-print formats in special collections environments and
related institutions. While all objects found in libraries,
archives, and historical societies--books and manuscripts most
certainly not excepted--deteriorate over time and with use, what
might be called non-traditional media, including works of art and
artifacts and especially newer media, are particularly vulnerable.
The useful life expectancies of most newer media are dramatically
shorter than that of paper-based objects, and when failure occurs it
is likely to be sudden and unrecoverable. In addition, most newer
media depend on increasingly sophisticated systems for their use,
and systems become obsolete at a rapidly growing rate. Audio and
video recordings, computer and instrument data, and many
photographic materials must be dealt with extensively--and
expensively--every decade instead of every century.

This course will deal with the specific vulnerabilities of these
media, and with methods for managing their preservation. Topics
include: environmental, storage, and handling strategies for
extending physical life; the necessity for migration and refreshment
of electronic and magnetic media; the use of visual indexes and
surrogates to reduce handling of originals; museum practices for
handling and storing works of art and artifacts; and sources of
information on specialized media. Lectures will be heavily
illustrated with slides.

In their personal statement, prospective students should briefly
describe their experience with newer media and say what they would
particularly like the course to cover.

Instructor: Paul N. Banks: New Course. Paul N. Banks founded the
nation's first book conservation education program at Columbia
University in 1981, and he has continued to teach in the program
since its transfer to the University of Texas in 1992. Between 1964
and 1981, he was Conservator at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

John Buchtel
Assistant Director for Activities
Rare Book School
Book Arts Press
114 Alderman Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA  22903
804-924-8851
Fax: 804-924-8824

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:92
                  Distributed: Thursday, May 14, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-11-92-031
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