Subject: Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS)
Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS) Many regions in the country are served by regional preservation field services that provide preservation information and training to the archives, libraries, and historical societies in their regions. The Western and Pacific states and territories lack a comparable service, partly because large geographic distances create impediments to information-sharing and mutual aid. To address this need, the Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS) has been formed in cooperation with the state libraries and state archives in eleven states and three territories: Alaska, American Samoa, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. WESTPAS initially will focus on providing disaster preparedness, response, and recovery training. Forty workshops for 600 library and archives staff are being scheduled from Fall 2007-2008. Additionally, a 24/7 toll-free number for emergencies involving the collections 888-905-7737) is active. For information on locations and scheduling of workshops, please visit: <URL:http://www.westpas.org/> WESTPAS is funded primarily by the National Endowment for the Humanities, with additional funding from BELFOR USA, a disaster restoration company, and support from the WESTPAS planners/trainers and their home institutions: Lynn Davis (U Hawaii), Normandy Helmer (U Oregon), Kristen Kern (Portland State U), Gary Menges (U Washington), Barclay Ogden (UC Berkeley), Julie Page (California Preservation Program), and Randy Silverman (U Utah). Barclay Ogden WESTPAS Manager (Head, Preservation Department) 20 Doe Library University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 510-642-4946 Fax: 510-642-4664 *** Conservation DistList Instance 21:20 Distributed: Monday, August 13, 2007 Message Id: cdl-21-20-002 ***Received on Thursday, 9 August, 2007