American LibrariesSearch American Libraries  |
||
Site Navigation
Left Sidebar Items |
||
Poor Storage Endangers Millions of Library and Museum HoldingsA survey of 3,370 museums, libraries, and archives across the country has found that millions of irreplaceable artifacts are being endangered by improper storage.A Public Trust at Risk: The Heritage Health Index Report on the State of America’s Collections, released December 6 by the conservation advocacy group Heritage Preservation and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, calls storage inadequacies and a lack of realistic disaster planning the most crucial problems. A quarter of the institutions reported that they had virtually no controls over fluctuations in temperature, light, and humidity, and about 65% had already sustained damage to their collections. Eighty percent of the institutions have no staff members dedicated to care of collections; the same percentage lack a natural-disaster plan. “A Public Trust at Risk concludes that only very few collecting institutions in the U.S. have enough funding to ensure the safety of their collections,” said Debra Hess Norris, chair of Heritage Preservation and head of the art conservation department at the University of Delaware. “Heritage Preservation urges private donors and public officials nationwide to lead new efforts to preserve the nation’s collected heritage, in light of this and other of the report’s findings.” Posted December 9, 2005. |
Right Sidebar
|
|
