University of Texas Preservation and Conservation Studies Program

Gracy to head Preservation and Conservation Studies

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at
The University of Texas at Austin is pleased to announce the
appointment of Dr. David B. Gracy II, the Governor Bill Daniel
Professor in Archival Enterprise, as Interim Director of its
Preservation and Conservation Studies Program (PCS) as of March 15,
1999.  Dr. Gracy succeeds Karen Motylewski, Director of PCS from
1995 to 1999.  Motylewski is leaving to join the Institute for
Museum and Library Services in Washington, D.C.

The Preservation and Conservation Studies Program offers the only
curriculum in the United States dedicated to preparing master's
graduates to solve the challenges of maintaining long-term access to
the accumulated body of library, archival, and other documentary
records for research and education. Generously funded by grants from
the National Endowment for the Humanities since 1981, this program
educates collections conservators and preservation managers to
assure effective access to information across all technologies from
historical documents through contemporary analog media to web-based
digital resources. Graduates hold positions at the nation's most
prestigious institutions, among them Harvard and Yale Universities,
the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the National
Agriculture Library, and many major public and state university
libraries.

Gracy initiated the preservation curriculum at GSLIS in 1987, and
taught preservation courses until PCS moved to Austin from Columbia
University in 1992.

Future plans for the program include work on solving the challenges
of long term access to information in digital form, with particular
emphasis on the relationship between traditional and virtual
collections, and on the archiving and economics of digital
collections.

The search for a permanent director will be initiated upon
completion of the current search for a permanent dean of the
Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:75
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 23, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-12-75-010
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