[PADG:1001] Preservation Instruction, Education and Outreach Discussion Group

["Karen Brown" <kebrown@xxxxxxxxx>]

A SPECIAL INVITATION TO ALL PADG PERSONS TO ATTEND!

Preservation Instruction, Education and Outreach Discussion Group
ALA/ALCTS/PARS
ALA Annual Meeting
Sunday, July 9, 2000
9:00 to 11:00 am, Chicago Marriott Downtown (Rm. Ohio, Northwestern)

Co-Chair:  Janice Mohlhenrich, Emory University
Co-Chair:  Karen Brown, Northeast Document Conservation Center

Topic Description
Responsibility for collection care has become part of the job of every
library professional, in all departments, in all areas and levels of
operation.  Heightened awareness of the need for preservation has also
increased our demand for guidance and training about the best way to protect
materials in our care.  Information professionals rely on consultation with
conservators and preservation specialists as well as timely publications and
workshops to answer their questions as the preservation challenge is
addressed.

Regional conservation centers here in the United States answer this demand
for expertise by providing services such as training programs, object
treatment, and reformatting.  In 1997 five centers joined together to form
the Regional Alliance for Preservation, or RAP, a nationwide cooperative
project to share preservation training resources.  Initiatives to date have
included the publication of a newsletter, cooperative delivery of workshops,
and the development of a Web site for consolidated delivery of resources and
information including an extensive bibliography and provision of full-text
articles on collections care.  Recently, member organizations of the
Association of Regional Conservation Centers joined RAP to strengthen the
alliance and broaden services that can be provided.

Tom Clareson, Imaging & Preservation Services Manager at Amigos will open
the discussion by giving a history of the alliance, outlining current
activities, and previewing future initiatives designed to provide
preservation education and services to the library community.
Representatives of several centers, including Julie Arnott, Preservation
Services Manager at SOLINET, and Karen Brown, Field Service Representative
at NEDCC, will also give short reports on current training initiatives at
their respective organizations.  As participants you should come prepared to
ask questions about RAP programs available in your area; to suggest
additional educational topics you would like to see addressed through
workshops, and to provide feedback to RAP members about the effectiveness of
the collaboration thus far.  We hope this discussion will lead to enhanced
interest in and understanding of RAP and foster a lively engagement between
regional centers and the populations they are trying to serve.