IMLS Conservation Bookshelf

Museums, Libraries, and Archives Urged to Apply for Free IMLS
Connecting to Collections Bookshelf

Deadline extended to April 30, 2008

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), in cooperation
with the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH),
has extended the deadline for applying for the IMLS Connecting to
Collections Bookshelf, a core set of books, online resources, and a
user's guide that are essential for the care of collections. The
bookshelf has received support from the Getty Foundation, the Henry
Luce Foundation, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

A simple electronic application for the free IMLS Bookshelf is
available at <URL:http://www.aaslh.org/Bookshelf>. The IMLS
Bookshelf focuses on collections typically found in art or history
museums and in libraries' special collections, with an added
selection of texts for zoos, aquaria, public gardens, and nature
centers. It addresses such topics as the philosophy and ethics of
collecting, collections management and planning, emergency
preparedness, and culturally specific conservation issues.
Recipients of the Bookshelf will also receive a guide with answers
to common questions about collections care that can be answered by
the Bookshelf. A guide to online resources on collections care has
also been prepared by Heritage Preservation (HP), a national
non-profit organization working to preserve America's collective
heritage. Both documents are available online on the IMLS Web Site
at <URL:http://www.imls.gov/collections>.

Two panels of experts, convened by HP, made recommendations to IMLS
on the contents of the bookshelf. Among the publications selected
were The National Trust Manual of Housekeeping (published by the
British National Trust in 2005), the Field Guide to Emergency
Response (published by Heritage Preservation in 2006), and
Essentials of Conservation Biology (published by Primack in 2006).

The IMLS Bookshelf will be awarded free in this last application
period March 1 - April 30, 2008, with recipients announced in July
2008. Instructions, qualifications, and the content of the IMLS
Bookshelf, along with the online application, can be found at
<URL:http://www.aaslh.org/Bookshelf>.

Priority will be given to smaller institutions, but large museums
and libraries with special collections are also eligible to apply.
Federally operated institutions, for-profit institutions, and
libraries that do not hold special collections are not eligible to
receive the Bookshelf. For more information on the IMLS Bookshelf,
email Terry Jackson at jackson<-a t->aaslh< . >org, or call 615-320-3203.

The Bookshelf is part of Connecting to Collections: A Call to
Action, a multi-year initiative to help improve the care of our
nation's collections. IMLS began the initiative in response to A
Public Trust at Risk: The Heritage Health Index Report on the State
of America's Collections, a 2005 Heritage Preservation study
supported by IMLS, which documented the dire state of the nation's
collections. See <URL:http://www.imls.gov/collections> for more
information.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:40
                 Distributed: Sunday, February 3, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-21-40-005
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