Conservation in Latin America:
Current Trends in Cultural Context

Part Six: Conclusions

Without a doubt, the interest in preserving Latin America's archival record is on the rise, both within and outside the region. The recent IFLA meeting identified three areas of great concern within the preservation community. There is a need for informed preservation technicians and conservators trained in advanced treatments. As the number of Latin American conservators increases, invaluable collections of manuscripts, books and documents will be conserved. Eventually, interested parties will form a regional organization the caliber of AIC and develop a code of ethics to guide conservation practices. Likewise, more conservators will produce scientific publications on topics of direct, not secondhand, interest to Latin America.

However, these changes will be slow, given political instability, indifferent attitudes, serious financial constraints and the challenge of securing adequate training. In the meantime, those interested and talented persons already at work in Latin America must advocate preventive maintenance strategies to delay the deterioration to library and archives materials until trained personnel can deal with them. Low-technology collections conservation approaches include rehousing of materials, simple repair measures, some forms of environmental control and training of personnel in beginning techniques. Only such a systematic course of action that takes into consideration all aspects of preservation can effectively tackle the preservation challenges in Latin America.

Copyright 1995 by Whitney Baker
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Please send comments to wbaker@pop.uky.edu.


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