It’s Preservation Week! April 21 - 27, 2019

Preservation week is observed by libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and many other institutions to raise awareness about collection care and preservation.

Did you know?

“Some 630 million items in collecting institutions require immediate attention and care. Eighty percent of these institutions have no paid staff assigned responsibility for collections care; 22 percent have no collections care personnel at all. Some 2.6 billion items are not protected by an emergency plan. As natural disasters of recent years have taught us, these resources are in jeopardy should a disaster strike. Personal, family, and community collections are equally at risk.” link

There are some basic steps we can take to preserve our photographs, memorabilia, family documents, sound and video recordings, books, textiles and other materials that are meaningful to us.

Learn how to care for your treasures:

The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works guides can help you care for your personal collections of: books, photographs, documents and works of art on paper, and other materials.

The more we rely on digital technology to create and store our memories and personal documents the more we must learn about digital preservation. Watch this short informative video from the Library of Congress to learn: Why Digital Preservation is Important for Everyone?

Don’t lose access to your digital materials

The How to Preserve Your Own Digital Materials tips from the Library of Congress Personal Archiving page teach you how to properly manage and store your digital photographs, audio files, video recordings, electronic mail, personal digital records and websites.

Do you want to learn more?

Watch these free preservation webinars:

• Preserving your family history
• Caring for your family keepsakes

[Header image is openly licensed by freestocks-photos]