may11b.indd


C&RL News May 2011  298

Jane Hedberg is senior preservation program officer 
at Harvard University Library, e-mail: jane_hedberg@
harvard.edu; fax: (617) 496-8344

Preservation environments
LYRASIS has released an online class called 
“The Elusive Preservation-Based Environ-
ment.” The self-paced, 70-minute class 
presents the findings of the IMLS-funded 
project, “The Pennsylvania Study: Research 
into Optimal Environmental Conditions for 
Paper-Based Collections in Pennsylvania.” 
Neal Rusnov, the project’s technical direc-
tor, discusses architectural and engineering 
issues involved in providing good collection 
storage environments, and some methods for 
improving temperature, humidity, light, and 
air quality levels.

The class is available free-of-charge after 
registering at www.lyrasis.org/Classes%20
and%20Events/Class%20Registration%20
Form.aspx.

Sustainable environments
Issue 11 (March 2011) of Climate notes, an 
e-newsletter published by the Image Per-
manence Institute (IPI) in Rochester, New 
York, contains an article called “Energy-
Saving Options to Consider.” IPI defines an 
optimal preservation environment as one that 
achieves the best preservation of collections 
at the least possible consumption of energy 
and that is sustainable over time. The article 
offers suggestions for achieving an optimal 
preservation environment in both post and 
beam, wood-framed, or masonry buildings 
and tightly constructed new metal or concrete-
framed structures.

The article is available free-of-charge at 
https://www.imagepermanenceinstitute.org 
/resources/newsletter-archive/v11/energy 
-saving-options.

FLICC Preservation Institute
The Federal Library and Information Center 
Committee (FLICC) is presenting the second 

annual FLICC Preservation Institute during 
the summer and fall of 2011. Part I of the 
Institute is a week-long course, “Introduc-
tion to Preservation Practices,” held from 
July 18-22 at the Library of Congress (LC) in 
Washington D.C. It will consist of lectures and 
hands-on practica taught by LC Preservation 
Directorate staff members. Part II is a series of 
Webinars offered by the Northeast Document 
Conservation Center. “Care and Handling of 
Multimedia Collections” will be Webcast on 
September 13, “Risk Assessment for Disaster 
Planning” on September 20, “Mold Outbreaks 
and How to Cope with Them” on September 
29, “Fundamentals of Digitization: Sustain-
able Digital Collections” on October 20, and 
Fundamentals of Digitization: Digital Disaster 
Planning” on October 27. Each Webcast will 
run from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. EDT.

The registration fee is $70 for FEDLINK 
Training Account Holders and $80.00 for all 
others. For more information contact Anne 
Harrison at LC, phone: (202) 707-4834; e-mail: 
anha@loc.gov.

BL collection care conference
The Preservation Advisory Centre of the Brit-
ish Library (BL) has mounted on its Web site 
presentations from the conference, “Impact: 
Redefining the Measurement of Collection 
Care.” With libraries engaged in expanding 
digitization and digital collecting activities 
while challenged by rising energy costs and 
changing economic models, BL sponsored the 
one-day conference to re-examine approaches 
to collection care. The presentations include 
“Conservation in Uncertain Times” by Samuel 
Jones, “Measurement and Using Evidence” 
by Claire Creaser, “Preservation Management 
in Libraries—Impact?” by Graham Matthews, 
“Assessing Conservation State in the National 
Trust” by Katy Lithgow and two round tables 
“Changing times—Changing Strategies” and 
“Challenging Collection Care”.

The presentations are available free-of-
charge at www.bl.uk/blpac/impact.html. 

P r e s e r v a t i o n  N e w sJane Hedberg