Preservation Drop-In on April 25, BDC@ Bluffton Branch

As sincere and trained stewards of cultural heritage, Beaufort District Collection staff believe that memories and treasures should last a lifetime and be passed on to future generations, either within a family or via reputable institutions. And we want to help you preserve your own treasures.

In 2005 the cultural heritage community got an electrifying shock! Publication of The Heritage Health Index survey  that year revealed disquieting statistics about the dire state of preservation of cultural heritage in the United States. A key conclusion of the survey was that people at all levels of government and the private sector must take responsibility for the survival of these collections. And an essential first step is strengthening everyone’s awareness of the importance and scope of preservation needs. The American Library Association and partner organizations responded to the call for action with Preservation Week, seven days dedicated to heightening awareness of practical practices and techniques to insure that memories and treasures will last a lifetime and will be passed on to future generations in better condition because of those behaviors.  In accordance, the BDC has marked Preservation Week with local programs each year since.  

As the Library system’s special local history collection and archives, we preserve materials in the BDC each and every day. Our highest priority is to be good stewards of the cultural heritage materials entrusted to us for the community. Therefore we must be up-to-date on preservation thought, practices, and techniques. Part of being a good cultural heritage materials steward is sharing our knowledge about preservation practices with the community in order to empower you to better protect your own treasures. Preservation Week lets us share some general principles of preservation that can mitigate a host of potential problems.
In other words, Preservation Week inspires actions to preserve personal, family, and community collections in addition to library, museum, and archive collections. It also raises awareness of the role libraries and other cultural institutions play in providing ongoing preservation education and information. The Beaufort District Collection promotes Preservation Week to highlight what we can do, individually and together, to preserve our personal and shared collections.

For 2018 we're holding a "Preservation Drop-In" in the lobby of the Bluffton Branch Library at 120 Palmetto Way. Amanda and I will be on hand, 10 am to 1 pm on Wednesday, April 25th, to answer questions and distribute hand-outs to folks interested in learning how to better take care of their own family treasures. This year we have an extra special helper: Adam of the Bluffton Branch staff will answer questions about the equipment and services provided in the lab to help you you digitize family photographs or record family histories. He'll provide expertise and practical technical knowledge to help you make good decisions about digital approaches to the LOCKSS (which means "lots of copies keep stuff safe") strategy.

Like all BDC programs this is an opportunity to learn something on a specific topic offered at no charge to anyone interested in dropping by with their questions about how to take good care of their "stuff." Join us to learn what we can do, individually and together, to preserve our personal and shared collections.Together we can save our personal history for those who will come after us.

Please share far and wide!