“Black Cemeteries of [CITY]” was a local history program in February 2025 that sought to share the narrative of the city’s historically black and integrated final resting places, as well as to amplify the knowledge and experience of their living stakeholders. Learn how hosting such an event can forge new bonds of connection and preservation amongst information professionals, volunteers, educators, students, and family historians.
This session will define and explain archival digital preservation practices, and how to apply them in an academic or public library setting. The session will be accessible and designed for beginner to intermediate practitioners, touching on basic archival ideas like creating an inventory, the arrangement of files, file and folder naming conventions, digital storage, security, and future proofing of important administrative files with short-term to permanent use. Special focus will also be applied to records stored within a system, including library catalogs and databases. The goal is to arm attendees with the necessary skills to make their jobs easier, improve response times, and stay in line with legal requirements.
Shared print and preservation are strategies in support of libraries’ mission to provide access to collections. Shared print programs enable libraries to coordinate information resource holdings across institutions in service of efficient, long-term access to the collective scholarly record. Library preservation programs focus on the protection of library materials and mitigation of deteriorating forces that threaten long-term access. While these programs are not two sides of the same coin, they offer complementary strategies in pursuit of a mutual goal. However, just as no retention commitment can protect a book from unrecoverable damage in a mold outbreak, repairing a damaged book is of no use to a partnership program if the owning library withdraws its commitment. This session will explore areas of mutual concern and interest for shared print and preservation. Using "A Model to Determine Optimal Numbers of Monograph Copies for Preservation in Shared Print Collections" (Bogus et al, 2023) as a springboard, we will offer considerations and questions for collection management and preservation decisions. We will look at both areas of practice as mutually beneficial, but also as areas of expertise raising important considerations for each other. The resulting discussion will surface a shared agenda for future investigation.
This presentation will explore the vital role that librarians play in disaster preparedness, emphasizing how preserving communities’ experiences and ensuring the sustainability of information and knowledge are vital for disaster response. The presenters will incorporate the IDEA model — Integrity, Data, Evidence, and Action — in this session and highlight best practices for data-driven, strategic risk and crisis communication. There will also be real-world examples and lessons learned from disaster scenarios, showcasing how libraries can safeguard both physical and digital materials to protect local history and lived experiences. Attendees will gain insight into proactive planning and collaboration with emergency services. From this session, librarians will leave by embracing their role as stewards of cultural preservation and sustainability, by helping communities recover and respond to future challenges.
