Photo: Michele Stricker, a consultant for the New Jersey State Library, and Paul Martinez, librarian from the Harry A. Sprague Library, Montclair State University, at the 2009 NJLA History and Preservation Section Poster Session.
Michele Stricker of the New Jersey State Library has been selected by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to attend a national forum, June 16 and 17, 2009, in Buffalo, New York entitled “Stewardship of America’s Legacy: Answering the Call to Action.” She is one of more than 70 representatives of small and medium-sized museums and libraries nationwide invited to participate based on their leadership in the profession and in their communities.
IMLS’s Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action, is a multi-year, multi-faceted national program. The Buffalo event is the final of a series of four national forums held in 2008 and 2009. The meetings have been designed to raise awareness among leaders of small and mid-sized museums, libraries and archives about the importance of collections care and to give them practical information, tools and resources to inspire action nationwide.
“Stewardship of America’s Legacy: Answering the Call to Action” will explore how committed individuals, ranging from small town librarians to directors of national conservation training programs, can work together to improve collections care and to inspire and inform others, be it nationally or within their own communities. Speakers will address ways to make the case for funding, address cutting-edge collections care topics, and describe how to use networks to tap into expertise and to engage the public in sustaining our Nation’s collections.
“I am honored to be selected to be part of this national forum,” said Stricker, “and to be a part of the Connecting to Collections partnership in New Jersey along with the State Archives, State Museum, Rutgers University and the Newark Museum.”
IMLS is hosting this forum in cooperation with Heritage Preservation, the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, and the Art Conservation Department of Buffalo State College, State University of New York.
The forum has received support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Carol A. Fatta/The Fatta Foundation, the Baird Foundation, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. For a complete schedule please go to:
http://www.imls.gov/collections/tour/buf_program.htm.
