CARING FOR COLLECTIONS
With Stefan Michalski, CCI, April 3-8
Cultural Resource Management Program, University of Victoria
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An outline is now available for our upcoming 6-day comprehensive course in
collections care. Please contact us or visit our website for further
information or registration materials!
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Preserving collections and providing safe and secure environments in which
they can be exhibited, studied, and shared involves the coordination of a
range of complex physical and organizational factors.
In this hands-on workshop, you explore the principles and techniques of
preventive care and develop your ability to:
* formulate policies and procedures for collections care
* coordinate the roles of various professionals
* work with diverse collections types and materials
* assess the condition of objects
* recognize a range of factors that cause deterioration
* provide safe environments
* use preventive care techniques in handling, packing, display,
transportation
* resolve ethical, economic, and cultural issues in collections care
Instructor: Stefan Michalski is the Manager of Preventive Conservation
Services with the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa
Dates: April 3-8, with a preparatory assignment
Please register by: March 6
Fee: $589 (Canadian funds, credit/non-credit)
Travel: Victoria is easily accessible from Seattle and Vancouver
Accommodation: Program staff are pleased to provide information on local
B&B, hotel, and on-campus options
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DRAFT OUTLINE SUMMARY
Monday, April 3 CARE OF COLLECTIONS IN CONTEXT
New museology, new realities:
* a history of museums and collections - from a post-modern cultural
critique to practical realities
* Redefining the purpose of collections and their appropriate care - group
activity
Different collections, different care:
* Assumptions about different types of collections - group activity
* Developing a set of common threads, and a set of variations - implications
for care of collections
Risk management:
* Care of collections as risk management - a wholistic approach; review of
models and terminology
* Assessing all risks, deciding which to reduce, which to mitigate, and by
how much
* Developing the most cost-effective plan to yield the greatest total risk
reduction for the resources available
* Emergency preparedness; insurance planning; indemnification programs
* Decision dilemmas for "priceless" and "irreplaceable" objects
Tuesday, April 4 INDIVIDUAL RISKS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT
Wear and tear, shock and vibration:
* Mitigating physical forces - a short list of techniques
* Review of current design knowledge, benefits, sources, and costs
Theft, vandalism, loss:
* Security Advice - managing the range of available information, from the
ICOM manual for large museums, to short monographs for smaller museums
* Two perspectives: a global view for organizing Security advice at any
scale; the revolution in low-cost electronic detection for smaller
institutions
Fire:
* The NFPA (National Fire Protection Association, USA) - review of the
content and implications of their recently developed standard for museums,
galleries, archives, and libraries; current museum dilemmas
Water:
* Discussion of the effects of water on traditional objects and on modern
objects (photographs, tapes, and CD's)
* Reduction of water events (good building design and maintenance) and
mitigation of water damage after an event (prior planning and rapid
response) - review of the key features of these stages and their literature
Wednesday, April 5 INDIVIDUAL RISKS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT (cont)
Pests:
* radical shifts in museum pest control - integrated pest management (IPM)
and the use of non-toxic methods in pest eradication; discussion of these
shifts and their sources pest management
Contaminants:
* Origins of pollutants and a review of solutions and dilemmas - what we
know about the long term effects of pollutants
Lighting:
* Emerging lighting guidelines for museums in Canada, the USA, and Europe
* A review of the increasingly-complex data available and its use within the
old decision of visibility vs vulnerability
Temperature and Relative Humidity:
* Review of the newly completed guidelines for museums, libraries and
archives from the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and
Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
* Implications for collections of various sizes and various types
Thursday, April 6 FIELD TRIP TO THE ROYAL BRITISH COLUMBIA MUSEUM
* The Museum's move of its reserve collections to a new building -- Guest
speaker: Valerie Thorp, Chief Conservator
* Preparation of group case studies and presentations
Friday, April 7 MANAGING ALL THE RISKS AT ONCE
Marketing-Driven Shows & Risk Management:
*(session title T.B.A.) - Guest speaker: Bill Barkley, Executive Director,
Royal British Columbia Museum
Assessment tools:
* Risk assessment - survey tools and new software versions - review and
comparison
* Demonstration of the preventive conservation survey software from Canadian
Conservation Institute (CCI), alongside the paper surveys developed by
ICCROM for worldwide use
Deciding priorities:
* Balancing theory and practice to achieve reasonable risk management -
available theories, techniques, and approaches
Planning:
* the role of planning on overall risk management of collections - planning
models and good practice in museums
Saturday, April 8 PRESENTATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
* Group Presentations
* Emerging Trends
* Concerns and Closure
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