Sustainable Preservation Practices for Managing Storage Environments

FAIN: PE-50050-10

RIT (Rochester, NY 14623-5698)
James M. Reilly (Project Director: July 2009 to March 2012)

Funding supports five workshops and nine webinars for staff of museums, libraries, and archives about managing collection environments in sustainable ways. Participants will learn to assess the preservation quality of environmental conditions and the needs of collections materials, and to understand the impact of local climate and the basics of HVAC operations. Strategies for reducing energy cost and consumption in cultural repositories without sacrificing the preservation quality of collection environments will also be identified.

The project entitled Sustainable Preservation Practices for Managing Storage Environments will enable cultural institutions with significant humanities research materials to avoid risks to collections while they support sustainability efforts and pursue opportunities for energy cost reduction. Through a series of 5 regional workshops and 9 webinars directed at a national audience of collection care, preservation and facility management staff, the project will convey the latest knowledge and techniques for managing the storage environment in sustainable ways. Nationally recognized experts in preservation environmental management and energy efficiency will present the latest research and field practice in leading US and European museums and libraries. Environmental assessment tools and methods that will be presented have been developed through previous NEH projects and will be based in part on actual case studies, for example through a decade of contracts with the Library of Congress.