Preservation Assessment

PLO:

PLO 1- Apply the field’s functional theories, principles, values, ethics and skills to everyday practice

This preservation assessment was created for LIS 60654: Preservation & Conservation of Heritage Materials. For this assignment, I had to locate a local library, museum, or archive that had a history collection and visit the collection in order to assess its preservation. For my preservation assessment, I chose to use the local history collection of the Palmdale City Library, where I had previously worked. After contacting the director and obtaining permission to visit the collection and perform an assessment, I spent several hours a week over a period of three weeks in the library’s local history room, where I looked at the current condition of the collection, how items in the collection were stored, and what the environment was like to determine how well the items were being preserved and what could be done to improve their preservation going forward. I then created a written preservation assessment describing the current condition of the collection and the results of my assessment, and providing recommendations for improving the collection’s preservation, using what I had learned from the readings and lectures assigned throughout the course. The written assessment and a list of relevant resources was provided to the library’s director.

This preservation assessment provided me with hands-on experience in conducting and writing a preservation assessment. Through this assignment, I had the opportunity to apply the preservation principles and practices I learned in the course by using them to assess a real collection.