Preservation Training Support

FAIN: PG-50645-09

Massachusetts State Library (Boston, MA 02133-1099)
Elvernoy Johnson (Project Director: May 2008 to October 2010)

Attendance by the library's preservation assistant at the year-long Preservation Management Institute, a certificate program offered through Rutgers University. This staff member is broadly responsible for maintenance of the institution's collections, which include Massachusetts historical and legal resources used by a large number of scholars, educators, family historians, and state employees.

The State Library of Massachusetts requests a Preservation Assistance Grant of $6,000 to support the attendance of the library's Preservation Assistant at the Preservation Management Institute. The Preservation Management Institute, a program of the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers University, is a year-long program that awards a certificate in preservation management upon completion of all classes and assignments. By supporting the Preservation Assistant of the State Library in her Preservation Management Institute coursework, the library increases its expertise in preservation, which will allow it to expand the services it can provide. Additionally, two products of this educational program are the completion of an institutional preservation survey and the creation of a disaster plan. These documents will be of particular interest for the State Library as the only preservation survey was completed in 2002 and no disaster plan exists.