For immediate release | March 6, 2012

Celebrate Preservation Week @ PLA Conference

CHICAGO – Come celebrate Preservation Week at the PLA Conference in Philadelphia. Join us at booth #2144 to find out more about how you can participate in the 2012 Preservation Week, April 22-28. Preservation Week is pleased to have Steve Berry, New York Times best-selling author as its first national spokesperson. Look for more information on Mr. Berry’s participation, including public service announcements on the Preservation Week website.
This national awareness campaign, a presentation of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) and the Library of Congress, was developed to promote the understanding and importance of care for personal and community cultural heritage collections, whether books, documents, photographs, textiles, paintings, sculptures, furniture and decorative arts or whatever any person or community collects.

Preservation Week provides a time when thousands will turn to libraries across the U.S. for information and expertise on how to preserve collectibles, photos, family records and other valuable materials. During Preservation Week, themed “Pass it on!,” participating libraries will offer special programs and services that help connect library users with preservation tools; promote the importance of preservation; and enhance knowledge of preservation issues among the general public.

The Preservation Week website connects librarians and the public with excellent resources, tracks programs across the country, enables people to share their stories and provides information on a wide variety of preservation issues. There is a wealth of information for those interested in participating in an event or in holding their own event. The website includes an Event Toolkit with ideas for low-cost activities, a speaker’s bureau containing names and contact information for preservation professionals willing to speak on various preservation topics and marketing tools for promoting your own Preservation Week such as logos, bookmarks, and tips for writing press releases. Local events can be found on the regularly updated Events Map, which plots all locations of planned preservation activities. If your institution plans to host an open event, please post it to the Preservation Week 2012 Events Map. Doing so will help promote your event.

A Preservation Week poster and bookmark is now available in the ALA Store. Help support Preservation Week. Visit the ALA Store.

Our goal for 2012 is to have Preservation Week events in every state, community and library. Please join us in the effort to preserve and protect our cultural heritage by participating in a Preservation Week activity or by hosting your own event. And Pass It On!

ALCTS is a division of the American Library Association.

Contact:

Charles Wilt

Executive Director

ALCTS

cwilt@ala.org