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Free, Online Collections Care Courses
By Donna DiMichele | December 17, 2012
Caring for Yesterday’s Treasures—Today, is a new series of free, online courses about the preservation of archival and historical collections. Offered by Heritage Preservation and tailored to meet the needs and schedules of staff and volunteers at libraries and archives, each course includes four to six 90-minute, interactive webinars presented by preservation experts.
Libraries and archives shoulder an immense responsibility to protect and preserve America’s treasures. According to A Public Trust at Risk: The Heritage Health Index Report on the State of America’s Collections, libraries and archives hold 63%—or about 3 billion—of the 4.8 billion collection items in the United States. Archives hold another 360 million artifacts. The survey also revealed:
- 78% of libraries and 70% of archives have no emergency plan to protect collections with staff trained to carry it out.
- Almost half of public libraries with rare or archival collections have no staff assigned to preservation tasks.
- Archives and libraries have significant photograph and audio-visual collections and, increasingly, digital materials.
- Tuition and travel costs can be an obstacle for professional development.
The courses for Caring for Yesterday’s Treasures—Today will address these issues and more. Participants are encouraged to submit specific questions about collections care to ensure that the courses are directly relevant to their needs.
The series will be conducted via the Connecting to Collections Online Community. Each course will have its own Web page with handouts and links to additional resources. When each course concludes, participants will be able to continue the conversation with instructors and classmates via the Connecting to Collections Online Community.
Participants will earn a certificate of completion if they attend all the webinars in a course and submit simple homework assignments. Although registration is free of charge, to enable participants to adjust their work schedules and to indicate an institutional commitment to improve collections care, we ask that participants submit a permission form signed by their supervisor to attend these courses.
Course Schedule:
- Collections Care Basics: Where Do I Begin? – January 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, and 23, 2013 (all webinars at 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Eastern)
- Risk Evaluation: First Step in Disaster Planning – February 5, 7, 12, and 14, 2013 (all webinars at 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Eastern)
- Protecting Your Collections: Writing a Disaster Response Plan – March 5, 7, 12, and 14, 2013 (all webinars at 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Eastern)
- Caring for Digital Materials: Preventing a Digital Dark Age – five 90-minute webinars in April 2013 (dates and times TBA)
- Caring for Photographic Materials – five 90-minute webinars in May 2013 (dates and times TBA)
Courses on caring for audiovisual materials, fundraising for collections care, and outreach activities for collections care are planned for fall 2013.
Caring for Yesterday’s Treasures—Today is made possible through an Institute of Museum and Library Services Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Continuing Education grant to Heritage Preservation. The website and webinars are produced by LearningTimes.
Topics: Continuing Education, IMLS, Preservation | Comments Off on Free, Online Collections Care Courses
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