William Alan Schlaack, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Located on a sprawling 28 acre campus in Champaign, Illinois the Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) serves as one of the premier firefighter training, education, and research centers in the world. Thanks to a strong affiliation with the University of Illinois the 21,000 square foot Learning Resource and Research Center is home to many workshops, research projects, and even the state’s only dedicated fire service library open to the public. On Wednesday, June 16, 2018 IFSI, in partnership with CARLI, graciously hosted the Burn Simulation and Recovery Workshop. Twenty-eight librarians from across the state were in attendance.
Fire Investigation and Fire Prevention Training Program Manager at IFSI, Chief John High spoke at length regarding working with fire professionals. This discussion transitioned into classroom-based fire extinguisher training assisted by Tim Romine, IFSI Associate Field Instructor, followed by a hands-on fire extinguisher training for attendees. IFSI instructors prepared a burn simulation of donated library materials in their on-site training building. The salvage and recovery portions of the workshop were led primarily by Jennifer Hain Teper, Head of Preservation Services for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), with assistance from Quinn Ferris, Senior Specialist Collection Conservator for UIUC.