IMLS Connecting to Collections Bookshelf

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

<URL:http://www.imls.gov/news/2008/111208.shtm>

Apply between January 5, 2009, and March 9, 2009

Based on the enthusiastic response from museum, library and archive
professionals throughout the country, the Institute of Museum and
Library Services (IMLS) will offer a third, and final, round of
competition to distribute an additional 1,000 copies of the IMLS
Connecting to Collections Bookshelf. Online applications can be
submitted to the American Association for State and Local History
(AASLH) between January 5, 2009, and March 9, 2009, at

    <URL:http://www.aaslh.org/Bookshelf>

The IMLS Bookshelf, supported in the third application period by the
Henry Luce Foundation, is a core set of texts that are essential for
the care of collections. To date, 1,841 IMLS Bookshelves have been
distributed to cultural heritage institutions. Every state and
territory, including Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and the
U.S. Virgin Islands has received a copy of the IMLS Bookshelf.

The IMLS Bookshelf, valued at approximately $800, 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. The final set of recipients will also
receive a recently published book by the American Institute for
Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC). The AIC Guide to
Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation is a
comprehensive guide to photographic equipment, software, and
processing for those who use digital photography for conservation
documentation. The complete Bookshelf bibliography and the list of
application questions are available for review at
<URL:http://www.aaslh.org/Bookshelf>

Recipients of the IMLS Bookshelf will also receive two guides: The
Bookshelf User's Guide and the Guide to Online Resources. Both
documents are available on the IMLS Web Site at

    <URL:http://www.imls.gov/collections>.

The IMLS 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 concluded that:

    190 million objects need conservation treatment,

    65 percent of collecting institutions have damaged collections
    due to improper storage,

    80 percent of collecting institutions lack an emergency plan for
    their collections and trained staff to carry it out, and

    40 percent of institutions have no funds allocated in their
    annual budget for preservation and conservation.

Priority for the IMLS Bookshelf will be given to smaller
institutions, but large museums and libraries with special
collections are also eligible to apply. For the third round,
organizations such as state libraries and museum associations, which
may wish to circulate the IMLS Bookshelf within their states, are
also encouraged to apply. Federally-operated institutions,
for-profit institutions, and libraries that do not hold special
collections are not eligible to receive the IMLS Bookshelf.

For more information, email

    Terry Jackson
    615-320-3203
    jackson<-a t->aaslh< . >org


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:29
                Distributed: Thursday, November 20, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-29-002
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