On-going
services
The CPP’s
primary work is conducting workshops on disaster preparedness and response for
libraries. Since 2002, 474 staff representing 328 libraries and cultural
institutions has attended 17 workshops throughout the state.
Additionally, the CPP’s website, CalPreservation.org,
offers California-specific disaster assistance information as well as
preservation information for libraries without preservation professionals on
their team.
The CPP
organizes regional conferences on specialized preservation topics. Conferences
in the last several years have addressed preservation fundraising, mold and
pest control, cost-effective environmental management, and surveying
preservation needs, among other topics. CPP’s conferences not only benefit
the California library community, but advance the knowledge and skills of
California’s growing cadre of preservation authorities.
The CPP
offers expert preservation assistance to individual libraries on a cost
sharing basis through which the library and the CPP each cover part of the
consulting costs. Many of California’s libraries without preservation staff
occasionally need preservation expertise to guide long range planning for care
of collections, to inform building projects that provide opportunities to
improve housing and storage of collections, or to address more urgent
preservation problems where important materials are at high risk of loss. The
CPP’s preservation experts conduct site visits, surveys of collection needs,
and written reports, providing impartial, third party, expertise to support
institutional plans and goals.
Information display at CPP
Alliance for Response workshop.
Special
projects
In addition
to its ongoing services, the CPP has completed, or has underway, several
special projects.
When
disasters, particularly those involving water, befall library collections,
“first responders” (police and fire) are key to saving as much of the
collection as possible. To improve the effectiveness of response, the CPP,
working with the California
Office of Emergency Services (OES) and the Federal Emergency Management
Administration (FEMA), has created the California
Alliance for Response so that cultural heritage professionals and first
responders can work together to maximize response effectiveness.
The Alliance has met several times in locations throughout California already,
and more Alliance meetings are planned for the future.
Although
many of 20th Century’s most historic sights and sounds have been recorded on
audio visual media, preserving audio visual treasures has been largely
ignored. Finally, in 2007, thirty-two institutions statewide surveyed their
audiovisual collections and contributed their data to document preservation
needs. The California Preservation Survey of Moving Image and Recorded Sound
Collections provides a basis for ongoing funding to preserve audiovisual
collections of significance to the history of California. The next step
for the CPP will be to find sources of funding to help preserve the most
important historical materials.
Western
States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service
The success
of the services provided by the California Preservation Program has drawn
national attention and funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities
to extend California’s preservation services to 13 Western and Pacific
states and territories. To respond to this challenge, the Western
States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS) was
created earlier this year. Preservation experts throughout the West and
Pacific will serve as trainers and consultants in WESTPAS. In 2007-08, they
are leading 40 disaster preparedness and response workshops for 600 library
and archives staff in Alaska, American Samoa, California, Colorado, Guam,
Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Utah,
Washington, and Wyoming. Please see the WESTPAS site
for a list of locations and schedules for the workshops as well as an
overview.
After eight
years of increasing activity and influence, the CPP has become a California
success story. However, as long as California libraries remain unprepared to
protect their collections from disasters, the CPP will continue to provide
training and emergency assistance. Current planning for the CPP’s future
includes preservation of audiovisual materials and, very importantly,
preservation of digital materials. Much work remains to be done to ensure that
California’s historically important collections will survive to teach future
Californians.
For further
information or assistance, please visit the CPP website at http://calpreservation.org,
or send an email to info@calpreservation.org.
