John Scott's comments on regional centers and private conservators
are well-reasoned.  I would like to add my own comments, however. (I
do not work for a center nor am I a consewrvator in private
practice.)(I do not know Mr. Scott, but there is a John Scott in the
AIC directory whose address is the New York Conservation Center but
who is also listed in the directory as a conservator in private
practice.  Is this the same John Scott?)
 
John Scott said: "One difficult example of great interest to private
practice conservators,
is the trend to ever-increasing marketing of conservation services by
"regional centers" to museums, institutions, corporations, and
various
clients well beyond their originally-designated scope of operations.
 
This trend squeezes local conservators as business which could keep
them
viable and serving their area or which could attract them into an
area
needing local service, is siphoned off to help support a 'regional
center' located elsewhere."
 
Some regional conservation centers need to advertise their services
in various ways in order to get business because business is not that
good for some of them right now in their previously defined working
areas, if it was ever good beyond the initial honeymoon period of the
novelty of such operations.  I have heard but have not confirmed, so
a rumor is still a rumor, that at least one center was or is nearly
on the rocks because it cannot get enough business to support itself.
 
Regional centers are not Wal-Marts.  They cannot takeover all the
business in a community, area, region, or nation.  (Holy, anti-trust!
Holy, monopoly!)  They can only attempt to do so if that is their
intention to survive.  (I suppose I feel that some centers have
developed very smooth predator tactics to keep themselves in the
public eye and afloat, such as the subtle advertising that goes on,
especially by folks at centers who dispense information and advice
freely on the internet and display in their footer who they work for.
I am not panning such activity only pointing to it as an example.
Wouldn't a potential client be attracted to a person or organization
who/which seems to exude some expertise, and perhaps respect, in a
particular area?)  Most centers cater to niches within the
conservation field.  Few, if any, of them can have on staff
conservators covering all the major conservation areas, such as
paper, books, paintings, sculpture, objects, wood, photography,
metals, etc.  Few, if any, could afford to have such a complement of
talent working for them full-time at any one time.  (The talent hired
by conservation centers is of varied quality, despite intention of
the center or commitment of the individual conservators.  Centers let
people go who are not up to snuff.  I know of at least two instances
of this taking place at a nearby center.  The existence of a
conservation center does not guarantee quality work or quality staff
or competitive prices.)  Some centers are only flat paper and book
oriented.  Some centers have diversified services in order to reach a
wider clientele in a wider area with the express purpose of bringing
in more bucks.  Also, centers cannot discount their services because
they cannot discount the cost of labor which is the major portion of
their fees, unless they hired technicians rather than professionals
to treat materials.  Overhead, including utilities, rent, materials,
admin staff costs, are add-ons, which are also high.
 
It should be clear that overhead in a center is going to be higher
than that in the shop of a private conservator.  I would imagine,
that, if anything, the private conservator with a good reputation is
very competitive and can be awarded some projects rather than the
center because the cost is lower or equal to the center and the
quality may be higher.  Also, it is my impression that conservation
centers tend to want to deal in volume projects rather than in
individual, single-item or several item projects.  Although it is the
case, as John points out, that centers have developed tentacles to
reach into other than their once traditional markets.
 
Some, if not all, centers have moved into the grant writing arena in
order to get public and private money flowing into the center's
coffers from grantfunding agencies.  Centers apply for grants, eg, to
train conservation program graduates or near-graduates (for the most
part) through internships, and who want to enter an increasingly
crowded field, to get major pieces of equipment (which they cannot
normally afford to purchase) to perform increasingly complex
treatments, and to offer consulting or information services for free
or a minimum fee to institutions and indiviudals in their greater
operating area.  Most centers call this activity field services.
Without these grants some centers would be suffering more than they
are now, or be defunct.  Some centers also cooperate with other local
agencies, in the case of libraries these agencies are local OCLC
network providers, also not-for-profit, to put on short-term
preservation and conservation workshops.  I do have personal
experience here.  The center I worked with on a planned workshop had
to charge an exorbitant amount to the other/sponsoring agency to
cover expenses and then some.  The agency then had to tack on its own
overhead expenses as well.  The workshop I was to hold was cancelled
because few could afford the fee, it was so high.
 
Regional centers probably cater well to organizations long distance
as well as to those who are local, but can they provide personal
service to individuals at long distance?  I think not.  All this is
prologue for saying that private conservators may be concerned about
regional centers horning in on their mostly local markets, real or
potential, but good private conservators develop a local
repeat-business clientele, as does any good center.  Eg, I know a
conservator who left a regional center who started a private business
and appears to be very successful at it.  This person canvassed
potential clientele in the city where the center is located prior to
leaving the center, did some work on the side for these folks, and
later, after going private, had/has a steady stream of work coming
in.  This person's clientele were not serviced by the center, by the
way.  This person works a niche.  This niche happens to be book
conservation.  But there is always more potential work out there than
there are bodies to take it on, whether as an individual or as a
center.  (The concept that is exactly the same within institutions:
there is always more work to be done than there is staff to do it.)
Whether a potential client approaches a center or a private
conservator is primarily an economic decision.  Cost, quality, and
personal service should be key words for those shopping for
conservation services.  Some folks use local private conservators
because they feel that they get better work from them and develop a
personal rapport with the person(s) working on their objects.  In a
center, a clients contact person is an administrator or manager,
usually never the person actually doing the treatment work.  This
puts a distance between the person who owns the object, who has a
number of concerns to convey, and the conservator on the line.
 
I know another book conservator who moved from a major city, where
most of this person's work originated, to a very rural and bucolic
setting.  This conservator maintains contacts with and continues to
get work from previous clients in the city, despite the fact that
another conservator handily attempted to fill the vacuum.  In the
city this conservator (who moved away) was well-established and lost
little work to the local conservation center.  Moving away from a
clientele base but maintaining work from this group reflects on this
person's abilities, abilities in both treatment and personal
relations, abilities which not all conservators in private practice
share.
 
My point here in this discussion is that private conservators and
conservation centers can co-exist, probably to their mutual benefit.
Staying in business is always a matter of hard work and a great deal
of good luck, as well as a cash reserve to temporarily fall back on
during hard times.  Advertising services is part of the equation as
well.  I don't wish to get into the validity of advertising on the
net.  There are listservs that advertise books for sale.  Why
shouldn't there be a listserv for conservation services and products?
A separate listserv should not imply that it is the only, the
exclusive, avenue for such activity, rather that it is simply the
best place to reach the greatest potential audience--who are
connected to the net.  Just wait until ads start appearing on radio
and television for conservation services.  After midnight, along with
the lawyers, vegetable slicers, do-tell records, and health equipment
hawkers.
 
Robert Milevski
Preservation Librarian
Princeton University Libraries