Convergence of UK conservation organizations

Letter from A/. Jean E. Brown. Accredited member of the Institute of
Paper Conservation:

The DistList has provided a valuable forum for the exchange of
opinions regarding the proposed Convergence plans currently being
developed for the UK Conservation Groups and I would like to pass on
my thanks for this much needed forum for debate.

I was one of the signatories to the letter that has been circulated
recently regarding the proposed Convergence plans between the
various UK conservation groups. My co-signatories are all
established, respected members of the profession whose only interest
in the matter has been to establish through debate the best way
forward for IPC and consequently its membership. In a democratic
society one might have expected such debate to be readily available
to those who choose to use it. However the efforts of the executive
committee of IPC to stifle any such debate have been to say the
least quite shocking. We are not a group of anarchists intent on
wrecking the IPC on the contrary we have the greatest regard for the
Institute and our only motivation has been to try and ensure that
what is valued by the membership is preserved and that any
improvements are clearly identified and provided at a cost that is
considered acceptable to the membership. We felt that the
questionnaire that IPC circulated with regard to Convergence did not
provide an opportunity to express these concerns.

There has been no satisfactory response to the main issues that were
raised:

    *   Why can IPC not continue in its current form?

    *   What are the specific benefits of Convergence to IPC
        members?

    *   Will the journal and newsletter continue in its current form
        after Convergence?

    *   What will happen to the personal indemnity cover provided
        through IPC subscriptions to its members?

    *   What will be the cost of subscriptions post Convergence?

    *   IPC split from UKIC because Convergence did not work at the
        time. What has changed to make it work now?

It would also appear that the entire Convergence consultation costs
of over UKP14,000.00 were met entirely from IPC funds. If this
should be the case this also raises a number of possibly even more
serious issues:

    *   Why were the other conservation groups not asked to
        contribute if they are expected to participate in, and
        benefit from the Convergence scheme?

    *   Would it not have been more appropriate to encourage the
        current debate to take place prior to spending such a large
        sum of the member's money?

    *   Having spent this money does IPC still have sufficient
        financial reserves to continue if Convergence does not take
        place?

Miss A. Jean E. Brown
Senior Lecturer
Conservation of Fine Art
Northumbria University
NE1 8ST
+44 191 227 3331


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:6
                   Distributed: Friday, July 9, 2004
                        Message Id: cdl-18-6-005
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