Lecture on library preservation in Vietnam

Princeton Preservation Group Presents:

Library Preservation in Vietnam
"Library Preservation at the General Sciences Library, Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam"

Susan Duhl, Independent Art Conservation/Collections Manager
Pane Room, Alexander Library
Rutgers University New Brunswick
Tuesday, September 25
5-7pm.

RSVP:  Timothy Corlis, tcorlis [at] yahoo__com

Volunteering has become an essential part of Susan Duhl's
professional life. In 2002, she learned about a collaboration
between John Dean, Director of Preservation and Conservation at
Cornell University and Bac Thi Nguyen, Director of the General
Sciences Library (GSL) in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Dean had helped
build a bookbindery and train the staff at GSL.  Supported by two
grants for travel and conservation tools and equipment, Duhl trained
four GSL bindery staff to take care of their existing collections.
Her intention was to introduce fundamental principles of
preservation and develop basic standards for handling and use. Since
she had no consistent translator, she taught using slides and a
laptop computer, a few handwritten translations, (the tonal
Vietnamese language proved impossible to learn), and a great deal of
good humor and patience from the group.  In recalling her
experiences, Duhl wrote,

   "Curators and conservators around the world have learned to
    address collections needs in order of urgency, often at the
    expense of other, equally deserving materials.  However, by
    working with materials in countries with limited resources, I
    have gained new perspectives: I better understand what
    constitutes true "extreme risk" for collections and the
    increased need for international collaborations in small to
    mid-sized cultural institutions."


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:21
                Distributed: Tuesday, September 4, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-21-009
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