Everyone, I have something exciting to share: it’s Preservation Week! The first ever Preservation Week by ALA (with lots of fabulous partners). And Preservation Week started on Mother’s Day–how appropriate because probably most people are interested in preserving memories of their families–and runs through this Saturday. Now, I’m probably geeking out a little bit about this because I’m an archivist in addition to being a librarian and think about preservation issues almost every day. But I think this is an awesome opportunity to raise awareness about preservation in your community and maybe even find some new information that will help your with preservation in your library, archives, and/or life. So let’s check out some of the highlights.

First, you must check out the Preservation Week: Pass it on: Saving heritage and memories website if you don’t do anything else. Tons of information, links to events and to organizations that have more information about preservation. I have to say that I’m especially fond of the Conserve O Grams by the National Park Service and the Preservation Leaflets by the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC). Both of these resources have helped me numerous times when I’ve been faced with preservation issues in the archives. As an aside, if you ever have the opportunity to take a tour of NEDCC (like say through a preservation seminar at Simmons College or whatnot), don’t pass it up. The conservators that work there are incredibly knowledgeable and the facilities are amazing (yes, sorry, geeking out again).

On the Events page of the Preservation Week website you can find links to webinars (both for fee and for free sessions are available) as well information about in person events happening around the country. Add your event if you are hosting one this week too.

So get out there and spread the word about Preservation Week. Help create a disaster plan for your collection, rehouse a fragile collection, help your family store its letters, photographs, and heirlooms in proper containers, and for goodness’ sake get your files off those obsolete floppy disks.

Have a fantastic day, a productive Preservation Week, and the Waki Librarian will be back soon with more library and technology fun.