Online course on moving collections

MS 262: Moving Collections
Instructor: Lori Benson
July 1-26, 2013
Location: Online at www.museumclasses.org

Description: Moving collections is a daunting task.  Fragile items
need special packing and care to be safely transported.  Large,
heavy or awkward items like dinosaurs and oversized sculptures
require special equipment and support from local authorities.  How
do you design your project to meet the budget and timing demands of
your administration? Are your collections over-packed in acidic
boxes and does your move includes improving their storage and care?
Collections often take up more room when they are stored properly.
How do you determine your needed storage space when the collection
is decompressed? Moving Collections provides an overview of how to
plan and manage a move to avoid the many pitfalls.  The course
includes: defining your project, developing a Request for Proposal
(RFP), developing a work plan, staffing, and packing protocols.
Whether you are moving part of the collection within your building
or moving the entire collection to another facility, Moving
Collections provides a blueprint for you to follow.

Logistics: Participants in Moving Collections work at their own
pace.  Instructor Lori Benson is available at scheduled times during
the course for email support.  Materials include PowerPoint
lectures, reading materials and lecture notes.  Supporting resources
include message forums, weekly online chats, projects, quizzes and
links to relevant web sites.  The course is limited to 20
participants.

Moving Collections runs four weeks.  To learn more about the course,
please go to
<URL:http://www.collectioncare.org/training/trol_classes_ms262.html>
If you have trouble please contact Helen Alten
<helen<-at->collectioncare<.>org>

The Instructor:

    Lori Benson is an independent museum professional based in
    Maine.  Ms. Benson has a B.A. in biology and a Masters of
    Library and Informational Science specializing in rare books and
    archives.  She started working at the Minnesota Historical
    Society in 1990, finishing a grant funded position as the
    Preservation Outreach Representative.  After a series of project
    positions at the Historical Society, including Assistant Moving
    Coordinator, she was hired by the Science Museum of Minnesota as
    their first Collections Manager in 1994.  She was Project
    Director in the Research and Collections Division for the new
    facility planning and move.  The project was published as Moving
    the Mountain, the Science Museum of Minnesota Guide to Moving
    Collections.  In addition to her position at the Science Museum,
    Ms. Benson was adjunct faculty at Dominican University/College
    of St. Catherine Department of Library Science teaching
    Preservation and Conservation of Library Materials and Archives
    Administration in 2000-2001.  In 2003, she was hired by Texas
    Natural Science Center, University of Texas at Austin (formerly
    Texas Memorial Museum) to de-accession their entire cultural
    collection.  She continues to be a University of Texas
    Affiliate. She has taught museum studies to undergraduates and
    given many talks and lectures on preservation, deaccessioning,
    project planning and moving.  She is a member of the Society for
    the Preservation of Natural History Collections and the
    Registrars' Committee of the American Association of Museums. In
    her second life, she teaches handweaving.

Brad Bredehoft for Helen Alten
Northern States Conservation Center


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 27:2
                  Distributed: Thursday, June 13, 2013
                        Message Id: cdl-27-2-013
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