I am a collections conservator and educator who has worked with libraries, archives and museums in a variety of roles.  Cultural artifacts, those in museums, libraries and personal collections, define what we hold important in a society and embody our collective past.  Taking care of these objects is everyone's responsibility, but conservators have unique perspectives that can help guide those efforts and the skills to intervene when needed.  Collaboration is the key to success.

I have taught classes that focus on lab techniques; the physical and chemical structure of materials; recovery techniques; risk assessment; the future of conservation; and others.  In all these courses I try to foster a close integration between conservation and the other areas related to information studies.  I am happy to teach basic conservation skills to students who will ultimately work as archivists, librarians, and curators but also data analysts, children's librarians and all the areas covered in the School of Information.  I strongly disagree with the idea that conservation treatment methods and techniques should be kept secret to all but conservation professionals.

Disaster recovery

I am concerned with disseminating freely available and easily understood and interpreted information to small institutions that are not likely to have any conservation or preservation staff.  I've responded to several major disasters, and time after time have seen objects discarded that might have been saved, even if not in pristine condition, with only minimal intervention.

Capturing conservation treatment techniques

As an expansion of conservation treatment documentation I have begun to develop protocols to video hand movements during conservation treatment.  Recording the techniques will allow the curator or owner to better understand the exact processes used during treatment; provide a visual record of current conservation practices; and serve to compare techniques among conservators.