Archive for the ‘Preservation’ Category

Pass it On: Saving Heritage and Memories, Preserving Family Treasures

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Ever wonder how to store old baseball cards? How to carefully handle a fragile old family photo? How to preserve your digital diary or your quilt collection? Everyone who saves things, from family mementos to world-class collections, has similar questions.

Libraries care for their vast and varied collections everyday, so they are the perfect places for learning about preservation. In recognition of this, the American Library Association will launch its first Preservation Week May 9–15, 2010. The New Jersey State Library is partnering with ALA in developing and piloting a new workshop to help your library celebrate collecting and preservation in your community, and to highlight your institution as a source of preservation information.

Preservation is a theme that can be used to bring in people and develop new audiences in your library. You do not have to be an expert in preservation to present informative programs to the public. This workshop will give you the ideas and resources you will need to develop successful preservation programming for your customers.

Participants will learn some basic preservation strategies for assisting the public in caring for their family treasures, as well as ideas for fostering preservation awareness and developing outreach programs in your community.

Possible outreach and awareness ideas include digitizing family photographs or papers, digital archiving and metadata for the home photographer, display of family treasures, sharing your family food heritage, a memories “road show,” caring for family documents, scrapbooking for posterity, organizing family collections, home movie day, quilt/wedding dress care, and disaster recovery for important family papers. Register now for what promises to be an interesting and informative workshop for library directors, preservation staff, or program/outreach managers.

Cost: $20 (covers continental breakfast and lunch)
Time: 9:30– 3:30 workshop (9:00-9:30 Registration)

March 30: Parsippany Troy Hills Public Library
March 31: Hasbrouck Heights Public Library
April 7: East Brunswick Public Library
April 8: Cherry Hill Public Library

Space is limited. Registration and payment takes places online at: https://secure.thriva.com/Reg/Form.aspx?IDTD=1607587&IDRPH=1659115

For further information please contact Michele Stricker, Deputy Director, Library Development Bureau, New Jersey State Library at mstricker@njstatelib.org.

NJ State Library Appointments Announced

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Victoria Rosch2009 NJSL Trustee Institute

The New Jersey State Library is pleased to announce the appointments of Victoria Rosch (photo left) to the position of Associate State Librarian for Special Projects, Peggy Cadigan (center) to the position of Associate State Librarian for Innovation & Outreach Strategies, and Michele Stricker (right) to the position of Deputy Head of Library Development.

In her new position, Rosch will be responsible for working on pilot and other special projects, advocating for legislative priorities, overseeing construction issues and assuring compliance with various administrative requirements and priorities. She will continue to write regulations and serve as a resource for library law. She began her career with the New Jersey State Library in the Library Development Bureau in 2003, and has served for the last two years as deputy director of the bureau. Her responsibilities included managing the Per Capita State Aid grant program and regulation updating, and serving as the state data coordinator and as a resource for New Jersey library law. For the 12 years prior to joining the staff of the State Library, Rosch held various positions of increasing importance at the Gloucester County Library, including eight years as the library director. She is a graduate of Rutgers University – Camden and received her Masters of Public Librarianship from Rowan University. She is a member of the New Jersey Library Association and the American Library Association.

Cadigan’s duties will include giving presentations on the future of libraries both in and out of state, and addressing varied audiences of library professionals and other interested parties to present information about State Library programs and projects. She will explore ways to enhance the State Library’s services to the libraries and residents of the state by engaging in partnerships and seeking development opportunities. She is also planning a follow-up to the Mid-Atlantic Library Futures Conference which she convened with other partners in 2005. Her most recent successful venture was the creation and implementation of “Snapshot Day,” held in 2009 in partnership with the New Jersey Library Association. The purpose of Snapshot Day was to capture the impact that New Jersey libraries have on their communities on a typical day. A survey captured the daily activities of libraries across the state, and revealed that, in just one day, more than 160,000 people walk through the doors of New Jersey’s libraries. The American Library Association will be promoting Snapshot Day as a national event. Cadigan graduated magna cum laude from Hobart & William Smith College, Geneva, N.Y., and received her Master’s degree in Library Science from Rutgers University.

As Deputy Head of Library Development, Stricker will be responsible for working on library law, trustee education, the Trustee Institute, preservation and disaster preparedness programs & grants, and other grants programs. She had been serving as consultant for Library Trustees, Preservation and Literacy at the State Library, and received certification as a Preservation Management Consultant from the Rutgers School of Communication & Information. She was one of only 70 representatives from libraries and museums nationwide selected by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to attend a national forum last June in Buffalo, New York, entitled “Stewardship of America’s Legacy: Answering the Call to Action.” Stricker holds a bachelor’s degree from Tyler School of Art of Temple University, a master of fine arts in Museum Studies from Syracuse University, a master of arts in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s in Library & Information Science from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. She is a member of the American Library Association Preservation & Reformatting Section, a board member of NJ Library Association History & Preservation Section, and Lyrasis Preservation Group.

September is National Preparedness Month

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

The New Jersey State Library encourages everyone to visit the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s www.ready.gov Web site and sign up for their sixth annual National Preparedness Month, a campaign that focuses on encouraging the public to learn how to prepare their families for a disaster. FEMA is working closely with states on this national initiative to help communities make simple preparations for disaster preparedness.

Visit New Jersey’s own resource Web site dedicated to personal and community preparedness maintained by the Office of Emergency Management at www.ready.nj.gov for specific state and regional information related to emergency planning. There you will find plenty of information for your library to share with your customers, including recommended items to include in a basic emergency supply kit.

Because FEMA recommends that all families and businesses be prepared for an emergency, the New Jersey State Library purchased a number of disaster response kits. Due to limited funding, these kits were offered to those libraries who attended the NJSL sponsored Disaster Planning Workshops last year and expressed an interest in writing a disaster plan for their libraries. The workshops taught librarians about the types of disasters specific to New Jersey; ways to prevent fire and water disasters; risk assessment of the library facility and collections; response and recovery; and how to write a disaster plan.

More Preservation initiatives from the New Jersey State Library are planned throughout the coming year. For preservation online training guides, disaster preparedness, grants for preservation, and lists of suppliers and vendors, visit the NJSL Preservation Resource website at: http://www.njstatelib.org/LDB/Preservation/.

For further information contact Michele Stricker at mstricker@njstatelib.org.

So, Make a Plan, Be Informed, and Get Involved!

Michele Stricker Selected to Attend National Conference

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

NJLA Poster Sessions

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.

State Library Receives Two Significant Collections

Monday, December 1st, 2008

The New Jersey State Library has received a significant donation to the Genealogy Collection. The private collection of over 1,000 volumes was owned by a local genealogist, and includes 200 city directories; more than 100 city, county and state histories; some family genealogies; and about 300 genealogical reference volumes of various kinds. The generous donation was given to the State Library by the two friends of the genealogist who inherited them after his death ten years ago.

The State Library is also receiving a collection of issue briefs from the Forums Institute for Public Policy, Princeton, because it is closing. The briefs were produced over the past ten years and cover a wide range of health policy questions. All are in electronic format.

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NJ State Library at Monmouth County Archives Day

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Deborah Mercer & Michele Stricker“>

Deborah Mercer (left), New Jersey Collections Librarian, and Michele Stricker, Consultant for Library Trustees, Preservation and Literacy, represented the New Jersey State Library at the 2008 Monmouth County Archives Day at the Monmouth County Library, Manalapan, on Saturday, October 11. Their exhibition table highlighted NJ State Library programs and preservation initiatives.

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GPO Praises U.S. Documents Collection

Monday, October 6th, 2008

The State Library’s management of its U.S. documents collection garnered recognition for several notable achievements during a recently completed review by the Government Printing Office (GPO). The State Library is among the first group of member libraries of the Federal Depository Library Program to have a Public Access Assessment review.

“The New Jersey State Library participates very effectively in the New Jersey region,? the report stated. “The library communicates with their nearby depositories to conduct referrals and interlibrary loan and to participate in regional meetings and initiatives.? FULL STORY

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NEW Prevention & Disaster Planning Resource

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

The historical genealogy of many New Jersey towns is, very often, found housed at the local library. Historical journals, military and government documents, and cultural artifacts that deserve attention and care, usually find their way to the library to be preserved and protected for future generations. Because many librarians serve as the stewards of these irreplaceable collections, the New Jersey State Library has brought together a number of resources in one Website to help with preservation and disaster planning. FULL STORY

Michele Stricker Receives Preservation Scholarship

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

michelle-stricker-headshot.jpg

Michele Stricker, a consultant for the New Jersey State Library, has been awarded the Rutger’s Preservation Management Institutes 2008-2009 New Jersey Historical Commission scholarship. The scholarship enables her to attend the PMI courses beginning this October at Rutgers. As part of the program, Stricker will conduct preservation surveys, develop recommendations based on those surveys, and develop components of a preservation plan.

Stricker holds a bachelor’s degree from Tyler School of Art of Temple University, a master of fine arts in Museum Studies from Syracuse University, a master of arts in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s in Library & Information Science from Rutgers University.

Award winning video to help libraries salvage flood damaged collections

Friday, July 4th, 2008

Did you know that the most common disaster in New Jersey is flooding? Hurricanes, tropical storms, nor-easters, as well as winter snow melt and ice blockages lead to a major disaster in New Jersey at least once a year. In response to the flooding in the Midwest, Heritage Preservation, the leading national, nonprofit advocate for the proper care of historical objects and sites, has released a free, online video guide to coping with water damage. This 10-minute streaming video segment from the award-winning Field Guide to Emergency Response provides professional advice to help libraries, museums, and archives salvage damaged collections. You will find straightforward advice and practical tips on safety, simple equipment, and salvage priorities to help get you started on the rescue of photographs, books, documents, and other valued items.

LINKS:
Video
Heritage Preservation