Velson Horie

The distinguished conservator Velson Horie, has been appointed as
Project Manager for two conservation research projects funded by  a
grant of $695,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The first is
to assess copies of the same books held in different libraries, and
to relate their condition to differences in their storage
environments, and the other to analyse the volatile organic
compounds emitted by books and to relate them to the degree and
mechanism of paper degradation.

Velson has a long and distinguished career in conservation.  After a
degree in chemistry and training as an archaeological conservator at
the Institute of Archaeology, he worked at the North of England
Museums Service before joining The Manchester Museum as Keeper of
Conservation, a post he held for 28 years. He is probably best-known
to conservation students as author of Materials for Conservation
(Butterworths, 1987), which has been the standby for many an essay,
currently being revised.

Velson said

   "It is satisfying that various threads of my career have come
    together in these projects: care of collections; applying
    scientific research techniques; cost effective project
    management; involving a wider range of workers for conservation;
    and improving professional standards.  Because of the scale of
    book stocks, libraries have to make large, long term, decisions.
    Data from these projects will improve those decisions. This team
    of institutions with such excellent collections and staff will
    be exciting and rewarding to work with.  I look forward to
    making new friendships and cementing existing ones."

Barry Knight, Head of Conservation Research at The British Library,
said

   "This appointment will be a great boost to conservation science
    at The British Library and in the library and archive sector
    generally. We are confident that, together with our partners, we
    will be able to deliver first-class research results that will
    be of real practical benefit improving preservation and thus
    access to the collections."

Two of the most visible outcomes will be a publication and a
conference, tentatively scheduled for May 2009.

The other partners in the projects are the National Libraries of
Wales and Scotland, Oxford and Cambridge University Libraries, the
library of Trinity College Dublin, The National Archives (Kew) and
the National Archives of Scotland. Academic partners are the Centre
for Sustainable Heritage at University College London and the
Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry at the University of
Strathclyde.

Further details about the projects can be found at:

    <URL:http://www.bl.uk/about/collectioncare/consresearch.html>

Velson starts working at the British Library on 9 October 2006 and
the appointment is for 2 1/2 years.

Dr Barry Knight
Head of Conservation Research
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
+44 20 7412 7229
Fax: +44 20 7412 7658


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:18
                  Distributed: Friday, October 6, 2006
                       Message Id: cdl-20-18-002
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