Preservation Interviews: Learning from our Collective Experiences

Project Overview:

In 2015, the CARLI Preservation Committee sent out a survey to its members to measure the development of preservation capabilities and to identify areas for growth. Over the past few years, the committee has used the results of the survey to inform our annual projects, workshops, and open houses. For 2019-2020′s annual project, we are focusing on the section in the survey regarding self-identified needs. We are conducting email interviews with Preservation Managers, Conservators, or anyone in libraries with specific knowledge or who have had an interesting experience in the topics identified below.

 - Ann Lindsey, Head of Conservation, The University of Chicago Library

Planning Surveys and Assessments

In this interview, Mary Burns, Special Collections Catalog Librarian at Northern Illinois University, asks Ann Lindsey, Head of Conservation at the University of Chicago Library, to share her knowledge and experience with planning surveys and assessments.

Planning for Special Collections Exhibits 

In this interview, William Schlaack, Digital Reformatting Coordinator at the University of Illinois asks Marco Vinicio Valladares Perez, Exhibits Conservator at the University of Illinois, to share some of his experiences working with exhibits.

Preparing Exhibits

In this interview, Susan Howell, Cataloging and Metadata Librarian at Southern Illinois University asks Bonnie Parr, Historical Documents Conservator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM), to share her experiences preparing exhibits. Lance Tawzer, ALPLM Exhibits Director similarly contributed his expertise. Carla Smith, ALPLM Registrar, and Mike Casey, ALPLM Exhibit Designer were consulted as well.

Disaster Response

In this interview, Ann Lindsey, Head of Conservation at the University of Chicago Library, asks Tonia Grafakos, Marie A. Quinlan Director of Preservation at Northwestern University Libraries, to share her knowledge and expertise about responding to a disaster situation in the collection.

Preservation Week

In February 2020, Meghan Ryan, Special Collections and Cataloging Librarian at National Louis University, asked Moriah Caruso, the co-chair of the Preservation Outreach Committee a committee of the Preservation and Reformatting Section of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) to share information about the upcoming Preservation Week in April 2020, an initiative of the association. This interview took place before library closures due to COVID-19.

Preservation of Archival Materials

In this installment, Nora Gabor, Rare Books Librarian at DePaul University asked Jenny Dunbar, Archivist at College of DuPage, to share some experiences working in the archives at a community college.

Digital Preservation

Matt Short, in this interview, shares information with his colleague Mary Burns, about digital preservation.