Training in preventive conservation

The Library of Congress Preservation Directorate has received a
three-year grant from the Getty Grant Program to support the
training of conservation professionals.  The award of $141,000 will
be matched by the Library to support postgraduate training in
preventive conservation, an area of increasing importance in the
Library's preservation programs.

"The generous support that the Getty Grant provides will enable the
Library to take a leading role in training a new generation of
conservators who will be responsible for preserving today's and
tomorrow's cultural heritage," said Director for Preservation Mark
Roosa.

Over the next three years, senior conservators in the Preservation
Directorate at the Library of Congress will train one conservator a
year in the theory and practice of preventive conservation.  The
internships, which offer a stipend, will focus on the development
and application of preventive conservation approaches to securing
and stabilizing Library materials.  Collections in all formats and
digital materials that reside in the Library's custodial divisions
will provide a test bed for this training, including books,
photographs, motion picture films, sound recordings, and works on
paper.

Instruction will focus primarily on laboratory training, with one
month devoted to visiting select museums and libraries to record the
state of preventive conservation in practice.  The findings will be
published in a report.

Applications for these training opportunities are currently being
accepted through June 1, 2001.  For more information, contact Mark
Roosa, 202-707-7423, e-mail mroo [at] loc__gov.

The Library of Congress Preservation Directorate is responsible for
assuring long term access to the intellectual content of the
Library's collections in original or reformatted form and for
coordinating and overseeing the preservation and physical protection
of more than 121 million items in the library's collections.

Each year the Directorate preserves approximately half a million
items using a variety of techniques and approaches.  As the largest
preservation program in the world, the directorate maintains a
comprehensive and balanced program staffed by 170 individuals that
provides preventive and remedial care for materials in all formats.

The Getty Grant Program is part of the J. Paul Getty Trust, an
international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the
visual arts located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.  Since its
inception in 1984, the Grant Program has supported more than 2,500
projects in more than 150 countries.  The Getty Trust also includes
the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, and the
Getty Conservation Institute.

Mark Roosa
Director for Preservation
Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20540-4500
202-707-7423
Fax: 202-707-3434


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 14:61
                  Distributed: Thursday, May 10, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-14-61-013
                                  ***