Library of Congress Preservation Series (TOPS) for Preservation Week 2021 begins April 26-Free

• The Library of Congress Preservation Directorate is excited to present a Topics in Preservation Series (TOPS) for Preservation Week 2021! We are hosting free  webinars every weekday of Preservation Week at 11am (EST). The five webinars will feature preservation related projects conducted at the Library. You can find the registration links on our webpage or use the links below.

   Preservation Meets Public Health: Enduring Lessons from Pandemic Planning

  Monday April 26, 11am EST

  Presenter: Jacob Nadal, Director for Preservation

  This presentation will explain how the Library of Congress staff used information from the REALM project in conjunction with public health guidance to develop safe operations plans for activities that involved the Library's collections. Jake will unpack the decision-making processes that staff used to allow the agency to operate safely, adapt to developments in the pandemic, and incorporate lessons-learned to improve future operating plans. These include adjustments to collections management processes and hybrid on-site/telework operations for conservation, scientific research, and preservation services.

   Collections Management Division: Restarting Operations During a Pandemic

  Tuesday April 27, 11am EST

  Presenter: Matthew Martin, Assistant Chief (acting), CMD

  Preservation Directorate's Collections Management Division prioritized its workload during the pandemic in light of limited on-site staff and the need to re-evaluate processes and procedures to ensure safety and efficiency. CMD's mission is two-pronged, to promote and provide access to the Library's collection and to manage inventory and to ensure, accuracy, security, retrievability, and preservation of items in the collections.

   Focus on Scientific Reference Samples: Center for Heritage Analytical Reference Materials (CHARM)

  Wednesday April 28, 11am EST

  Presenter: Dr. Fenella G France, Chief, PRTD

  One preservation challenge for understanding cultural heritage collection materials and their deterioration is due to the lack of documentation for older storage, handling, and repair histories. Having physical reference samples that replicate all the materials in our collections allows us to both recreate and assess treatments, undergo destructive testing and accelerated aging, and use these results to correlate physical and non-invasive test methods. The creation of the "go-team" in the Preservation Research and Testing Division (PRTD) has expanded the capacity for non-invasive analyses of collection materials. PRTD staff have created guidelines for baseline characterization, test methods, linking and visualizing datasets, and utilizing and making available CHARM collection materials for sharing and collaboration with heritage partners to assist with preservation decision-making.

   Librarians-in-Residence: Training the Next Generation

  Thursday April 29, 11am EST

  Speakers: Adrija Henley, Chief, Preservation Services Division with former LIRs Jon Sweitzer-Lamme, Zach Maiorana, and Katie Daughtry

  The Librarians-in-Residence program was established in 2018 for recent graduates of Library and Information Science programs. The goal of this program is to develop the next generation of librarians and provide the opportunity to gain meaningful professional work experience. In the past three years, Preservation Directorate hosted three Librarians-in-Residence (LIR). Each of them spent 10 months working on various projects and assignments across the Preservation Directorate, to give them a range of valuable skills and knowledge. In this presentation, Adrija Henley will talk about the LIR program and will introduce other Librarians in Residence who will share their own experiences at the Library. We hope that our discussion will generate interest and excitement for the development of other residency programs and for future LIR program applicants. 

   Peek inside the Lab: Two Mini Presentations

  Friday April 30, 11am EST

  The Conservation and Digitization of the Yongle Dadian

  Speakers: Alan Haley, Senior Preservation Specialist and Dan Paterson, Senior Conservator

  Presenters will discuss the condition review, conservation treatment, and digitization of the Yongle Dadian, a manuscript encyclopedia from around 1565. The encyclopedia was first commissioned in 1403 by the Yongle emperor. When completed in 1408 the Yongle Dadian comprised 11,095 manuscript volumes, recording an enormous scope of Chinese life and culture. It is believed that none of the original 1408 volumes survived, but there are approximately 400 known volumes from the 16^th century edition. This presentation will discuss how the success of this project is dependent on the conservation team working together with the other library entities, and how the size of the Yongle Dadian, its complicated history, and cultural significance impacted each phase of decision-making process.

  American Book Design Buffet

  Speaker: Leslie Long, Senior Preservation Specialist, Conservation Division,

  This presentation will focus on three important people in the world of 19^th and early 20^th century book design:   John Feely, Sarah Wyman Whitman and Margaret Armstrong.  All three were working in the years that are referred to as the golden age of book design – the feast of books published with beautiful covers between 1870 and 1920.  The remarkable thing about this age of beautiful books is they were every day books for every day buyers, modestly priced and widely available. 

   If you have any questions please contact Amelia Parks at ampar@loc.gov

  Please request ADA accommodations at least five business days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.

  
  From SAA posting