Recommended reading for insight into what it is that we do: Jacob Nadal, UCLA’s Preservation Officer, just put up a great post about balancing responsibilities in his role. A couple of sections really resonate with me about the things and places in our care – as he describes “the incredible gravity that a library exerts, and the fascinating things that are pulled into our orbits.”
“My goal as a preservation administrator is not to fix all the broken things, but to make sure that the library becomes the kind of place that can and does fix things.” And ” If the specific collections or items of concern never get tended to, that’s not great preservation, but if they get tended to while the roof starts to leak and the library starts to collect beyond its means, that’s not great preservation, either.” And “… by spending time to develop processes first and holding projects off, I think we’ll be able to do better work for a long time into the future.”
Beth Heller Conservation LLC 